Abstract
Administration and documentation of oral chemotherapy agents is a complex process involving multiple health care professionals to maximize patient adherence and safety. In 2016, the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) in conjunction with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) updated the safety standards for the safe administration and management of oral chemotherapy (Neuss, et al., 2016). Traditionally, chemotherapy patient teaching has been centered around the intravenous route, but with rapid approval of oral chemotherapy agents, many oncology practices are struggling to keep up with the same safety standards. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase the percentage of the twelve identified teaching components patients are educated on prior to the patient starting a new oral therapy. Upon the prescribing of a new oral therapy, the patient was then scheduled with an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) for an oral chemotherapy teaching session to cover the twelve components. These included: diagnosis, medication description, dosing, schedule, follow-up, toxicities, drug-drug interactions, drug-food interactions, handling/disposal, acquisition, intent of therapy, and duration of therapy. An audit was performed prior to the initiation of the project and again at the conclusion, revealing a significant increase in the percentage of the teaching components documented in the electronic health record.