Oncology Clinical Specialist Oncology Nursing Society Granville, Massachusetts, United States
BACKGROUND The increasing use of oral anticancer medication offers state-of-the-art cancer treatment combined with the convenience and autonomy of self-care in the home. Many institutions lack a formal oral anticancer medication program, including a process to assess and monitor adherence. Without a formal program, nurses and their colleagues often look to their specialty associations for the literature, training, and collaboration with colleagues to support their adherence work. The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) provides online resources including evidence-based guidelines, care strategies, and toolkits to support safe, high-quality care. To better reflect current best practice, the ONS Oral Adherence Toolkit, released in 2016, required an update.
METHODS Nurses and pharmacists from across the U.S. participated in a preimplementation survey, followed by two focus groups in the summer of 2021. These professionals provided detailed recommendations on changes that were needed to the toolkit.
INTERVENTIONS Utilizing baseline survey results, expert feedback, and evidence-based literature, it was determined that of the 14 tools in the Oral Adherence Toolkit, one tool should be removed and 13 revised. Two new tools were added, resulting in 15 distinct tools in the newly named Oral Anticancer Medication Toolkit. A post-implementation survey of nurses and pharmacists collected data on whether the new tools would be applicable to practice. The revised toolkit was deployed on the website of the specialty nursing organization.
RESULTS Post-survey assessment by expert reviewers indicated that 14 of the 15 tools in the revised toolkit improved in relation to the applicability to practice. The new toolkit was deployed on the organizational website in February of 2022. In the first 2 months, the toolkit was downloaded nearly 1500 times.
CONCLUSIONS Nurses and their colleagues require resources available to support the care of individuals taking oral anticancer medications. The revised toolkit provides evidence-based, relevant, tailored resources to support practice.
