Oral Therapies

Overview of Oral Therapies
This article provides a general overview of oral therapies as they emerged as a more common treatment for cancer.
Oral Therapies Toolkit
The “Adherence to Oral Therapies for Cancer: Helping Your Patients Stay on Course Toolkit” provides strategies and resources you can use to facilitate adherence among patients with cancer.
Test your knowledge on oral chemo
Test your knowledge on oral chemotherapy use with this 2005 article.
Continuing Nursing Education
If you are interested in a comprehensive course on the drugs used, and the care of the patients receiving them, consider taking the “Oral Therapies for Cancer” online course.

 
Pharmacology of Oral Agents for Cancer

Oral therapies for cancer are frequently broken down to 3 classifications, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and hormone therapy.

  • How do Oral Therapies work?
    This article reviews some of the oral agents used for cancer treatment from a pharmacology perspective. It provides a basic overview of how the drugs work and their side effect profile.
  • Drug and Food Interactions
    This extensive drug table describes the drug and food interactions to a great number of oral therapies for cancer.

 
Patient Education

Comprehensive patient education can improve adherence to cancer therapy.

  • Patient education sheets
    Medline Plus is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Patient education drug sheets are available from this web site free of charge.

 
Adherence

  • Hot Topics Chat on Oral Therapies
    The “Hot Topics Chat Series” addresses the burning questions faced in practice.  Read the transcript from the chat with Susan Moore entitled, “Oral Therapies for Cancer.”
  • Adherence webcast
    "Adherence to Oral Therapies for Cancer" is an interactive webcast providing an overview of oral therapies and barriers to adherence. We're sorry, CNE is no longer available for this webcast, but you are welcome to view the presentation.

 
Administration of Oral Therapies

Chemotherapy and biotherapy can cause unique and even life threatening side effects and can also pose a safety risk to those handling the drug or contaminated body fluids, all nurses caring for patients receiving chemotherapy and/or biotherapy need specialized education regarding their use. This is true regardless of the indication, route of administration, or patient population. This education is for the safety of not only the patient receiving these drugs, but also the individuals who are handling, transporting, and disposing of these drugs, and for anyone in the environment in which these drugs are handling or administered.

  • ONS Position Statement
    Please review the ONS position statement on the preparation of the registered nurse administering chemotherapy and biotherapy.
  • Standards to Ensure Patient Safety
    ONS and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) collaborated to create Chemotherapy Safety Standards.  These standards detail the many steps that can be taken to administer chemotherapy and biotherapy safely.

 
Safe Handling
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