Onboarding Reference Guide Aids APPs Treating Patients Receiving Bone Marrow Transplant

Implementation of an onboarding reference guide served as a useful resource for advanced practice providers (APPs) in treating patients who are undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT), according to a poster presentation at the 46th Annual ONS Congress.

“It is known that bone marrow transplant patients are quite complex and require careful management by their providers. As cancer services continue to expand across organizations, advanced practice providers, or APPs, are playing a central role in patient care,” Tanya Lalani, DNP, NP, AOCNP®, a nurse practitioner at Ochsner Health said during a recording at the meeting. “Organizations are growing rapidly and more and more APPs are being hired.”

With this expansion, for example at Ochsner Health, it has become apparent that a structured orientation is necessary to allow for appropriate training for APPs, Lalani added. As a result, she created an onboarding reference guide, also known as the cheat sheet for new BMT APP hires, for reference during and after their orientation period.

In particular, the guide includes step-by-step information on how to perform daily tasks like admissions, discharges, and graft versus host disease documentation. In addition, it includes important phone numbers, frequently used order codes, and the process for performing and documenting procedures, as well as common labs and advanced testing guidelines for BMT patients categorized by hematologic malignancy.

In particular, Lalani added that the guide includes a checklist and a shadowing schedule, which allows an APP to know exactly where they need to be at any given.

Lastly, the guide also includes a quiz to help with discussion points during the orientation period.

Since its implementation, the guide is updated frequently to allow for the most up-to-date information, Lalani said.

“This onboarding guide has been very well received by new hires as well as management,” she concluded. “It has been used by leadership when asking the system for new hires. It has inspired other departments within the organization to create a more structured orientation guide as well. It has also been shared with hematology oncology fellows, and there are future plans to share it with internal medicine residents who rotate through the bone marrow transplant service.”

Reference:

Lalani T, et al. An Onboarding Reference Guide for New Bone Marrow Transplant Advanced Practice Providers. Presented at: 46th Annual ONS Congress; April 20, 2021; virtual.