As oncology nurses we are in the midst of caring for cancer patients throughout the continuum of care. Staying abreast of the current treatments for our patients is a constant challenge. In 2007 and 2008 alone there were nine new agents approved. Since the year 2000 there have been 46. The science involved in the research and development of these drugs is remarkable. These developments also require additional educational needs for oncology nursing.

Not only do nurses need to know how to mix and administer each chemotherapy agent, but they need to know the side effects of these agents and be able to teach our patients about these side efects and how to manage them properly. Clinical Practice Protocols in Oncology Nursing was written as a set of protocols that could be used as an order set. Nurse’s Chemotherapy Quick Pocket Reference condenses the information into a more readily available pocket version. We have made every attempt to be as up-to-date as possible as well as accurate and concise. Having the information available by protocol rather than each individual drug allows nurses to do a quick review of the protocol in a few paragraphs. This book is not intended to be all-inclusive of all side effects of the drugs in each protocol, but is an attempt to include the most common side effects. For all the side effect profiles we recommend that you refer to the package insert of the individual drugs.

We hope that Nurse’s Chemotherapy Quick Pocket Reference will be an additional reference to oncology nurses and other healthcare providers who administer chemotherapy to oncology patients.

We want to thank our families and our co-w orkers for their patience with us as we worked on developing Nurse’s Chemotherapy Quick Pocket Reference. Their support is greatly appreciated. We would also like to acknowledge Dan Stone at Jones and Bartlett for his attempts at keeping us on task and on time. We couldn’t have done this without him.

Debra S. Prescher-HughesCynthia J. Shryock