On July 25, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Baxter Healthcare Corporation’s recall of the Abacus order entry and calculation software because of a printing error that could cause final bag labels for compounded mixtures to be incorrect. FDA identified it as a class I recall, the most serious type of recall, where use of the software may cause serious injuries or death.
Reinforcing the public perception of nursing as the most trusted profession, President Joe Biden awarded Sandra Lindsay, DHSc, MS, MBA, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC, a critical care nurse, a Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022 for her work in the COVID-19 pandemic.
After clinical trial results demonstrated a four-month improvement in overall survival compared to best standard care, in March 2022 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved lutetium lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan (PluvictoTM) to treat prostate-specific membrane antigen–expressing metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Under its authority to regulate vaping and e-cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered JUUL Labs Inc. to stop selling and remove all of its current products from the market after the company’s applications failed to provide sufficient evidence about the products’ toxicologic profiles.
On July 20, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Smiths Medical’s recall of its Medfusion 3500 and 4000 syringe infusion pumps because of software malfunctions. FDA identified it as a class I recall, the most serious type of recall, where use of the devices may cause serious injuries or death.
In a clarion call for action seven years ago, President Barack Obama unveiled the Cancer Moonshot during his last State of the Union address. In that speech, Obama recalled, “Last year, Vice President Joe Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control.”
Propensity to adhere to cervical cancer screening recommendations varies widely by sexual orientation, researchers reported in study findings published in Cancer. They found that those in sexual minority groups are nearly 50% less likely to have ever undergone a Pap test.
Whole-person care involves evaluating a patient’s physical, emotional, spiritual, and social health. A conversational assessment can help oncology nurses foster an open dialogue about the patient as a person, not just their physical or health needs.
ONS Bridge™, the Oncology Nursing Society’s (ONS’s) premier annual conference tailored to nurses in direct patient care, returns to your screens in September with topics such as care coordination and the latest information on cancer therapies.
Diarrhea is a distressing condition that significantly affects patients’ quality of life and social functioning. Characterized by passage of more than three unformed stools in 24 hours, in cancer it can be caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, laxatives and antibiotics, enteral feeding, malabsorption syndromes, colectomy, or several types of malignant tumors. Diarrhea has also been reported in long-term cancer survivors. Standard treatment options such as opiate agonists and adsorbents are associated with side effects that may increase a patient’s symptom burden.