Miss Annalee Graham1, Mrs Laura Pyszkowski1, Miss Meghan Smith1
1Royal Hobart Hospital
Background: Communication and task allocation within the hospital setting is imperative to ensuring a patient-centred and safe environment. This is particularly important with regards to haematology and oncology patients receiving chemotherapy as inpatients. Multiple parties are required to be involved in this process these include; medical officers, nursing staff and pharmacists. All three parties need to be involved to ensure adequate nursing staff for administration, appropriate prescribing and ordering of chemotherapy and ensuring appropriate dosing and associated reviews.
Description: Over a period of time it was noted that not all parties were being included in the communication; typically it was only two out of the three parties resulting in delays in therapy and increased pressure on nursing and pharmacy staff.
Action: To overcome this issue nursing and pharmacy staff brainstormed solutions to this issue. This included reviewing resources and other facilities processes to improve this process. It was decided that the most appropriate solution was to develop an excel spreadsheet which incorporated this information and was accessible and edited by the appropriate personal.
Evaluation: The process was evaluated by assessing the number of patients who had delays in their therapy or resulted in incident reports.
Implications: If there is a breakdown in communication and not all parties are aware of their role and responsibilities then there is an increased risk of the patient not being able to receive chemotherapy on the intended day or increased time pressures which can increase the risk of errors.
Biography:
Annalee Graham: Annalee is a Haematology and Oncology Pharmacist at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Annalee has completed her COSA Foundation Course in Oncology in 2019 with over two years experience within the Haematology and Oncology setting. Annalee is Vice-Chair of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s Tasmanian Branch Committee. In 2019 Annalee was n credentialed a Stage I Advanced Practice Pharmacist. Annalee is committed and passionate about ensuring a multi-disciplinary approach to patient care.
Laura Pyszkowski: Laura is the Nurse Unit Manager of the Oncology Haematology Inpatient unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Laura completed her Master in Cancer Nursing in 2014. Laura is an active member of both the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia (CNSA) and Australian College of Nursing (ACN), recently completing a six year term with CNSA as a board director. Laura is committed and passionate about the role nurses play in improving outcomes for individuals affected by cancer and practice development.
Meghan Smith: Meghan is an ANUM for the Haematology and Oncology Inpatient Unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital. She has 11 years nursing experience including a Graduate Certificate in both Paediatrics and Oncology. Meghan is a key component of the Haematology and Oncology Inpatient Unit in assisting in a collaborative approach to patient care.