Prescribing Considerations for Patients with Chronic Leukemia

In the era of precision medicine, individualized care is tailored to the patient in a way that wasn’t possible 15 or 20 years ago, explained Stephanie Jackson DNP, MSN, RN, AOCNS, BMTCN.

Jackson, unit director at UCLA Health, spoke with Oncology Nursing News® about how to determine which drug is best for each patient with a chronic leukemia.

“We know that our bread and butter is [National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)] guidelines. And that's the beauty that when you go in there, you do see that all of them really are proved. And it's providers choice, usually, but also, what is the side effect profile based on that patient that you're treating, that you want to make sure that whether they're in the inpatient or outpatient manner, that it's going to be able to be managed. If they're receiving their therapy, outpatient, really empowering that patient and family, what are the side effects? Who do you call? and please notify us immediately so that if we have to take them off of that therapy, and switch them to another one, it can be done in real time so that we're not increasing morbidity and mortality.”