Assignment: Oncologic Emergencies
Assignment: Oncologic Emergencies

This is insufficient for the NP new to the oncology setting. Additional education is needed to enhance the skills and knowledge required to provide care to the patient with cancer and his or her family members/caregivers (Nevidjon et al., 2010; Rosenzweig et al., 2012). Therefore, incorporating ongoing oncology education for months following the ONP orientation is necessary for individual healthcare facilities. During an orientation period, the goal for the ONP is to provide safe, quality care to patients in a supportive practice environment. In an environment of healthcare complexity, ONPs benefit from a comprehensive ori- entation that is the foundation of professional job satisfaction and retention (Barnes, 2015).

In a study by Rosenzweig et al. (2012), 164 ONPs responded to a survey about their knowledge and skills as they entered oncology practice. Seventy-eight percent reported that they were not at all or just somewhat prepared for clinical issues, partic- ularly chemotherapy and biotherapy competencies.

It was also reported that 61% were not at all prepared or only somewhat pre- pared to recognize and manage medication toxicities. In addition, 70% reported being somewhat prepared or not at all prepared to care for patients with oncologic emergencies. The results of this study are indicative of significant changes in preparation and mentoring as ONPs begin practice in an oncology setting.

Technology and online programs are effective teaching methods to bridge the gap when training new ONPs. The ONP Web Education Resource (Onc-PoWER) was developed with funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for NPs new to the oncology setting (Hoffmann, Klein, & Rosenzweig, 2017). Simulation is another teaching method that is particularly useful when learning to perform clinical procedures (AACN, 2017;

FIGURE 1.

PRACTICE ENVIRONMENT FOR NURSE PRACTITIONERS BY STATE OR TERRITORY

RESTRICTED PRACTICE

California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North

Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia

REDUCED PRACTICE

Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,

Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.