Ask The Right Questions: Clinical Pearls of AE Management

In this episode of “The Vitals,” Oncology Nursing News® met with Mark Honor, PA-C, Department of Malignant Hematology, Moffitt Cancer Center, to discuss managing adverse events (AEs) related to cancer therapies. In our conversation, we discuss the different mechanisms of action of today’s most popular therapeutic options, and best principles for responding to adverse events in patients receiving combination or immunotherapies.

“I went to school to be a medical provider; they didn't go to school to be a patient. They're not going to walk up to me and say, ‘Mark, I think I had gastroparesis, can you prescribe me some metoclopramide?’ They're not going to do that. The thing is, we can be ignorant of the facts if we don't ask the right questions. You must ask the right questions.”

“[If you are] the triage nurse, or the primary nurse, you have to be invasive,” he added. “Once a patient tells you they're having a problem, you need to know what they ate last night, and what they have been eating recently. Because a lot of times by asking all those questions, the nurse can [actually] solve a lot of these problems.”