The role of the surgical care practitioner within the surgical team.

Changes to the surgical workforce and the continued development of health policy have perpetuated the requirement for innovative perioperative roles. The surgical care practitioner is a nurse or allied health professional who works within a surgical team and has advanced perioperative skills, including the ability to undertake surgical interventions.With only limited literature evaluating this role, any benefits of their inclusion to a surgical team are largely anecdotal. This article presents the findings of an autoethnographic inquiry that explored the experiences of surgical team members who worked with the nurse researcher in her role as surgical care practitioner. Surgeons identified the provision of a knowledgeable, competent assistant and operator who enhanced patient care, helped maintain surgical services and supported the training of junior doctors. The professional, ethical and legal obligations of advanced perioperative practice were upheld. Interprofessional collaboration was improved, as was service provision. This further enhanced the patient experience. The traditional viewpoint that nurses who undertake tasks previously associated with medicine should be working to the standard of a doctor is challenged but requires further examination.

Belantamab in Combination with Dexamethasone in Patients with Triple-class Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma.

BACKGROUND: Triple-class relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) has a poor prognosis. This study analyzed the clinical outcomes of Belantamab mafadotin in combination with dexamethasone (Bd) in triple-class RRMM. METHODS: We identified 35 patients with triple-class RRMM who received Bd at the University of Kansas from October 2019 to November 2021. RESULTS: The median age was 66 years (42-85) and the median prior lines of therapy was 5 (3-15). Nineteen (54%) patients had R-ISS stage III disease, 15 (43%) patients had high-risk cytogenetics, and 15 patients (43%) had extramedullary disease (EMD). Eight patients received prior BCMA-targeted therapy. Overall response rate (ORR) was 43%, with 23% achieving very good partial response and better. At a median follow up of 10.7 months, the median progression-free survival and survival were 4.9 and 10.7 months, respectively. The most common adverse event was keratopathy, which occurred in 30 (86%) patients. Twenty-four patients required dose reduction or delay due to keratopathy. Other common toxicities included anemia (83%), thrombocytopenia (80%), neutropenia (34%), and elevated liver function tests (51%). CONCLUSION: Our analysis shows Bd has good activity in triple-class RRMM. Keratopathy remains a challenging AE and the leading cause of dose reduction, delay and treatment cessation.