July - Saint Clare's Hospital

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 4
gestive heart failure, bradyarrhythmias, or patients taking concomitant
medications that prolong the QT interval.
• Electrolyte abnormalities, such as hypokalemia or hypomagnesemia
should be corrected prior to the infusion of ondansetron.
This warning does not affect the recommended oral ondansetron
dosing regimen which includes a maximum of 24 mg per day, or the
lower intravenous dose for PONV.
In response to the FDA’s recommendation, the Pharmacy and Therapeutic
Committee at SCHS has voted to implement an automatic
truncation policy where all pre-chemotherapy intravenous ondansetron
orders will be automatically capped at 16 mg. If you have
any questions on the dosing or side effect of ondansetron, please contact
the pharmacy department.
Janet Shen, Pharm.D.
Clinical Pharmacist
References
1. FDA Drug Safety communication: new information regarding QT
prolongation with ondansetron (Zofran). Available at:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm271913.htm, accessed
2 August, 2012.
2. Charbit et al. Droperidol and ondansetron-induced QT interval
prolongation. Anesthesiology 2008; 109(2): 206-212.
3. Charbit et al. Prolongation of QTc interval after postoperative nausea
and vomiting treatment by droperidol or ondansetron. Anesthesiology
2005; 102(6): 1094-1100.
DEAR ALLYSON
As nursing students and others graduate and we
begin recruiting for our 5th Nurse Residency program,
the advice by Karen Roush, MS, RN, FNP-
C, clinical managing editor for the American
Journal of Nursing, is relevant to us all in staying
well-rounded as nurses.
Stay alert. Be vital. Sharpen your mind and your skills. Read journals
for nurses and on health care in general. But don’t limit your knowledge
to health-related information. Read political discourse, economic
theory, and great literature. At the time of this writing, a book of
poems, Slope of the Child Everlasting by Laurie Kutchins, sits on my
desk at home. Each evening it pulls me into a deep reflection that informs
my practice in a way clinical study alone can’t possibly do.
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Keep moving. Learn, change, uncover, discover. There’s no other profession
that allows you to do this like nursing. Whether it’s within
your facility or as a travel nurse exploring the country, or perhaps
going from clinical care to a policy-making position, movement will
awaken the anticipation and excitement that you felt in the beginning
of your career.
Look beyond your borders. Whether they’re a shift, a hospital, a specialty,
a state, a country. Reach outside of what you know. See yourself
as part of something bigger than nursing.
Act out. Be willing to anger people. Remember, you are valuable and
necessary. Get your facts straight, then speak up loud and often. Make
some noise and get some attention. And then be ready to back up
your words with actions.
Become nursing’s biggest fan. Promote it. Boast about it. It will go
a long way in making nursing what it should be—well paid, well understood,
and respected. It will draw talented people to the profession.
Nursing suffers from gender bias, this is important to recognize
whichever gender you happen to be. It affects who goes into nursing,
how your role is allowed to evolve, and how much you get paid. The
answer isn’t in making the profession good enough for men; it’s in
making the profession good enough.
Lastly, don’t let nursing define your whole being. Be a baker, a runner,
a book club member, a father, a wife. Whatever it is, be it totally,
ferociously, and separate from nursing. As a writer of poetry, I am
often referred to as a nurse-poet and I always protest. I am not a nursepoet
or a nurse-anything. I am a nurse and a poet . . . among other
things. Nursing takes incredible mental and physical energy. Shelter
that part of you that is away from nursing and it will energize your
presence as a nurse.
If you have a question for Allyson Bakewell, Saint Clare’s Nurse Recruiter,
please email her at AllysonBakewell@saintclares.org and your question
might be featured next month in her Dear Allyson column.
“is not only to carry out the proper measures
yourself but to see that everyone else does so too.”
— Florence Nightingale
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