16E Inpatient Oncology

Acting Nurse Manager: Roseanne DeRiso, MA, BSN, RN, OCN

• 34 bed diversified oncology unit
• All beds capable of telemetry monitoring.
• Six private rooms for the accommodation of Bone Marrow Transplant patients.
• Construction projected to start in 2008, which will create a state of the art BMT unit.
• Patient population consists of young adults thru the geriatric age group. Average length of stay is approximately 13 days. Patients are generally very acute with many actively receiving radiation and chemotherapy. Disease processes include but are not limited to:  leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, multiple myeloma, lung, gastric, colon, liver and breast. Palliative patients are generally referred to either inpatient or out patient hospices.
• Nurses on 16E administer chemotherapy (inclusive of IP). After six months of nursing experience, nurses are eligible to take the ONS Chemotherapy/Biotherapy Course. This is followed with clinical mentoring relative to actual administration.  When the staff nurse demonstrates the required competencies, he/she is then deemed competent to administer chemotherapy.
• Nursing staff collaborates closely with the interdisciplinary team of hematologists/oncologists, hematology and oncology nurse practitioners, oncology clinical nurse specialist, nursing leadership, social workers, nutritionists, physical therapists, palliative care, pain management, pastoral care, nursing assistants, and patient unit clerks.