The role of the nurse practitioner caring for blood marrow transplant patients in the after hours oncology clinic

Abstract

Purpose: Caring for bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients in an outpatient clinical setting is very challenging. The patients are usually very sick with multiple complaints that require frequent and timely interventions. Over the years the treatment of BMT patients has changed. One major change, the Autologous Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cell Transplant, has gone from being a hospital procedure, to a common outpatient clinic procedure. This has created a need to extend the Ambulatory Clinic hours to accommodate the growing patient population.