A Call-to-Action Workshop:
Oncology Nurse Management of
Hypersensitivity Reactions

This program was presented as a continuing
education regional symposium for oncology nurses.

Release Date: February 2009
Expiration Date: January 2010
Estimated Time to Complete Activity: 72 minutes
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Posttest

I have read and understand the information presented on this page and agree to proceed with the educational activity.

Target Audience

This activity has been designed to meet the educational needs of patient care oncology nurses.

Purpose

To educate nurses on effective treatment strategies for the management of hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs).

Program Overview

Numerous cancer therapies are associated with HSRs. These infusion-related reactions can range in severity from mild flushing and itching, to anaphylaxis, and in rare cases, death. The accurate identification of the signs and symptoms of HSRs can directly affect treatment decisions. If patients at high risk for experiencing a second reaction can be safely rechallenged, discontinuation of an effective agent may be avoided. It is imperative that oncology nurses are aware of the potential for HSRs when administering therapeutic agents and have protocols in place to prevent and manage these reactions in order to minimize their effects on future treatment.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this program, participants should be better able to:

  • Identify which systemic cancer therapies often
    cause HSRs
  • Describe the pathophysiology of HSRs caused by systemic cancer therapies
  • Describe the clinical signs and symptoms of mild,
    moderate, and severe HSRs
  • Identify the variations in timing of HSRs across systemic cancer treatments
  • Describe the appropriate prophylaxis and management of HSRs
  • Identify the optimal circumstances and methods for rechallenging patients who have experienced HSRs to systemic cancer therapy
Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. IMER, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and sanofi-aventis U.S., do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of IMER, sanofi-aventis U.S., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and ImClone Systems, Inc. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patients’ conditions and possible contraindications on dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

Faculty

Pamela Hallquist Viale, MS, RN, CS, ANP, AOCNP®
Ms. Viale is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Physiological Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, where she also received her master’s degree in oncology nursing. She has lectured nationally and written journal articles on various oncology nursing topics. Ms. Viale is also a member of the editorial advisory board for the ONCOLOGY Nurse Edition publication, and is an expert panel member for the ManageCRC.com Web site, which provides information on colorectal cancer for nursing professionals.

 

Sponsored by:

IMER

This activity is supported by independent educational grants from
sanofi-aventis U.S., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and ImClone Systems, Inc.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Institute for Medical Education & Research (IMER) assesses conflict of interest with its instructors, planners, managers and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of CE/CME activities. All relevant conflicts of interest that are identified are thoroughly vetted by IMER for fair balance, scientific objectivity of studies utilized in this activity, and patient care recommendations. IMER is committed to providing its learners with high quality CE/CME activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.

The faculty reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this CE/CME activity:

Pamela Hallquist Viale, MS, RN, CS, ANP, AOCNP®, reported a financial interest/relationship or affiliation in the form of: Consultant, Meniscus Educational Institute and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Speakers' Bureau, IMER, Meniscus Educational Institute, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Amgen, Inc., and Merck & Co., Inc.

The planners and managers reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this educational activity:

The following IMER planners and managers, Michael Bramwell; Lourdes Briz, BS; Timothy J. DiChiara, PhD; Ninotchka Doleyres, MPH; Dorothy Dulko, PhD, RN, AOCNP-C®; Elisheva Hertz, BSN, RN, OCN®; Madelyn T. Herzfeld, BSN, RN, OCN®; Davecia Ragoonath-Cameron, MS; Matthew Weeks, BA, reported no financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this educational activity.

Accreditation Statements

This educational activity for 1.20 contact hour will be provided by IMER. IMER is an approved provider of continuing education by the Georgia Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

IMER is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 14763 for 1.44 contact hours. A statement of credit will be issued only upon receipt of a completed activity evaluation form.

Safeguards Against Commercial Bias

IMER affirms that the content and format of its CE activities and related materials promote improvements and quality in healthcare and do not promote a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial entity. To this end, IMER employs several strategies to ensure the absence of commercial bias, including but not limited to review of all planned content for CE activities sponsored by IMER to ensure adherence to the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s criteria and operational requirements and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s content validation statements and resolution of any actual or perceived conflict of interest that exist. We employ three metrics as we review materials:

1. Fair balance

a.
 Recommendations or emphasis must fairly represent and be based on a reasonable and valid interpretation of the information available on the subject matter
b.
 No single product or service is overrepresented when other equal competing products or services are available for inclusion
2. Scientific objectivity of studies mentioned in the materials or used as the basis for content

3. Appropriateness of patient care recommendations made to learners

Privacy Policy

When you participate in an educational activity provided by IMER (“we”), we ask you for your name, degree, affiliation, street address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address (the “Information”). We use that Information in the following ways:

We use the Information to grade your posttest and to send you a certificate of completion of the educational activity. If we use a third-party company to grade your posttest and issue certificates of completion, we will give the Information to that company for that purpose only.

For each educational activity that you take, you must complete an evaluation questionnaire. That questionnaire asks if you are willing to participate in a follow-up survey. If you answer yes, we will use your name and contact information to send you the survey.

We may use the Information to invite you to participate in other educational activities that IMER or its affiliates may offer.

On occasion, the commercial supporter of a educational activity will ask us for a list of the people who participated in that activity, so that it may document the first level of outcomes-based evaluation in the educational activity (ie, who attended, which medical specialties/practices were represented, how this compares to the target audience, and whether the activity needs to be repeated because significant numbers of the target audience did not attend). In that event, we will provide the supporter with your name, title and affiliation, but we will request in writing that the supporter not contact you directly for any purpose.

If our company is acquired or merged into another company, we may make the Information available to the new owner/entity to use in the ways described above, to enable it to continue our business.

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted here.

Method of Participation

There are no fees for participating and receiving nursing contact hours for this activity.

Participants must complete the posttest by recording the best answer to each question. Once you finished your test and completed the subsequent evaluation form, click submit test to send your responsed to us. Your test will be immediately reviewed and if you receive a passing grade of 70% or better, you will then be directed to print your certificate online.

Media

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