ECO-SEOM-SEEO safety recommendations guideline for cancer patients receiving intravenous therapy.

PURPOSE: Cancer patients require implantation of venous access devices to meet their personalized therapeutic needs, which are often complex due to the nature of the medication and the disease status. Therefore, it is essential to have standardized protocols that guarantee the best results in health and patient safety. METHODS: To learn about the availability of protocols and aspects related to safety in clinical practice and to detect possible opportunities for improvement, a survey has been conducted in various Spanish hospitals, in addition to a review of the evidence regarding the various devices available and complications associated with the administration of chemotherapy. RESULTS: As a result of both analyses, the Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology (ECO), the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), and the Spanish Society of Oncology Nursing (SEEO) have developed a catheter selection algorithm based on patient characteristics and treatment to facilitate the clinical decision-making process, as well as some recommendations aimed at ensuring patient safety and rational use of available resources. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, both the venous access catheter selection algorithm and the proposed recommendations aim to respond to the needs revealed in clinical practice and to become an integrable tool in electronic prescription systems to offer homogeneous criteria for action in cancer patients that require venous access, optimizing the use of available health resources with the highest safety and quality of life for the patient.

[Portable peristaltic perfusion pumps]. / Bombas portátiles de perfusión peristáltica.

Portable peristaltic perfusion pumps allow one to administer pharmaceuticals in hospitals as well as in primary health care centers and furthermore these pumps present multiple advantages for patients and their families since they make it possible to carry out treatment in a patient's home while at the same time lowering the costs involved. The authors analyze the most out standing aspects of portable peristaltic perfusion pumps along with their characteristics, installation, programming, and how to turn them on; in addition, the authors list the maintenance care which these pumps require.

[Oncologic day hospital]. / Hospital de día oncológico.

Due to its physical and psychosocial complexity, cancer requires forms of treatment which are becoming more diverse all the time and which involve a growing number of specialists in all fields. Nursing occupies a very important place in the care of these patients, and inside of the ambulatory care which nurses deal in, nurses are in charge of informing and caring for patients receiving chemotherapy. We develop a nursing care plan based on the most common problems or complications such as secondary effects of new generation cytostatic drugs, but one can extrapolate from those already known. We use the NANDA diagnostics and we keep in mind that almost all of the problems which we deal with are interdependent.