The UC Davis Cancer Care Network Pilots Program to Mentor Medical Surgical Nurses from Rural Hospitals in Oncology Nursing
November 14, 2012
Nurses in smaller, more rural hospitals do not see cancer patients on a regular basis, but hospitalized cancer patients often require demanding care with chemotherapy and side effect management. The mentoring program, sponsored by the UC Davis Cancer Care Network in conjunctgion with the Inpatient Oncology Service (Davis 8) and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. was designed to help bridge the gap in knowledge.
The goal of the program is for the affiliate nurses to observe muliple inpatient oncology experiences including chemotherapy administration as well as expose them to the components of an oncology program. The nurses participated in bedside rounds, huddles, and spend time in the outpatient infusion center.
"One of the affiliate cancer centers wants to develop an oncology unit on a medical surgical floor, and the nurses want additional training in caring for cancer patients," said Terri Wolf, RN, MSN, OCN who is the Nursing and Quality Coordinator for the UC Davis Cancer Care Network . "Mentoring with experienced oncology nurses at UC Davis was one way for nurses to learn how to care for these complex patients in addition to giving chemotherapy."
The program launched in October with two nurses (pictured above) from Mercy Medical Center in Merced spending two shifts with oncology nurses on Davis 8. The program will continue for several weeks and involve multiple network sites. Wilson Yen, nurse manager, and Patti Palmer, clinical nurse specialist for Davis 8, are facilitating the program and encourage the nurses to remain in contact so the mentoring will continue even after the nurses return to their hospitals.
As a part of an ongoing program to provide support and training for medical surgical nurses caring for oncology patients in the community hospital setting, another group of Mercy Medical Center nurses (pictured left) participated in the Mentoring Experience in November.