Implementing standardized venous access assessment and validating competency for safe administration of vesicant chemotherapy agents according to practice standards reduces adverse venous events by nearly 80%, ONS members Melissa Arangoa Miller, MS, APRN, ACNS-BC, AOCNS^®, Victoria Frazier-Warmack, DNP, MSN, RN, OCN^®, and Kathrene Castelo, RN, MSN, OCN^®, reported in study findings published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, a cancer surgeon who currently leads the National Cancer Institute, as the next director of the National Institutes of Health, overriding the objections of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the chair of the Senate health committee. The vote was 62 to 36, with Sanders voting no. 

Pressure injuries, falls, central line–associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and other hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) develop while a patient is in the hospital being treated for another condition. They not only cause patient harm, but they also contribute to escalating costs of care. For example, in the United States, the annual cost of treating pressure injuries is estimated as high as $22 billion, with expenses for a single pressure injury ranging from $500–$70,000. 

On November 7, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the existing indication of pembrolizumab (Keytruda^®) with trastuzumab, fluoropyrimidine, and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. This updated indication, which remains approved under accelerated approval regulations, restricts its use to patients whose tumors express PD-L1 (CPS ≥ 1), as determined by an FDA-approved test.

On November 8, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fruquintinib (Fruzaqla™) for adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who received prior fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy, and, if RAS wild-type and medically appropriate, an anti-EGFR therapy.

On November 6, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Teleflex, and its subsidiary Arrow International, are recalling 1,905 pressure injectable central venous catheter kits due to mislabeling regarding the presence of chlorhexidine in these products. FDA has identified it as a class I recall, the most serious type of recall. Use of these devices may cause serious injuries or death.

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) can cause serious harm or even death to patients and significantly increase healthcare costs. Nurses are critical contributors to infection prevention in any healthcare setting, particularly for oncology’s often-immunocompromised patient population, ONS member MiKaela Olsen, DNP, APRN-CNS, AOCNS^®, FAAN, clinical program director for oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore, MD, said. 

After two trials and more than 12 years of follow-up, researchers concluded that ovarian function suppression (OFS) plus endocrine therapy improves both disease-free (DFS) and overall survival for patients with premenopausal breast cancer compared to endocrine therapy alone and that exemestane has an advantage over tamoxifen for some patients. The authors reported their findings in two articles in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Venous access devices are ubiquitous in nearly every direct care nursing setting. But as technology becomes more complex and new evidence emerges, nurses must evaluate it against their current practice: Should I use saline or heparin to flush this access device? Am I placing this peripheral venous catheter correctly? What does the latest evidence say? Do I need to implement a practice change? 

On November 6, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Nurse Assist, LLC’s, recall and warned consumers, healthcare providers, and healthcare facilities not to use recalled saline (0.9% sodium chloride) and sterile water medical products manufactured by Nurse Assist, LLC, and sold under various brands, because they may not be sterile.