Questions in related to a few NMP issues

[Wendy Ng]

Our consultants would like our Pharmacist NMPs to:
- Prescribe first cycle of SACT with Treatment Plan supplied and signed off by treating consultant
- Consent patient for SACT
- Breaking bad news - e.g. disease progression

Just wonder if anyone currently doing these and if you can share any experience/ training/ guideline/ policy require to do so.

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Kind regards,
Wendy Ng

[Jennifer Laskey]

HI Wendy

I prescribe in a nurse/pharmacist led renal cancer clinic at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. We do all of the above and have done for many years. The one caveat I would say is that our nurse/pharmacist clinic runs alongside a consultant clinic so if we have any problems we can easily knock on somebody's door for advice so it will depend on your local setup. The breaking bad news bit is not nearly as daunting as you might think and in actual fact we have usually built up such a relationship with the patient by that point that they usually prefer to chat it through with us anyway. if you want to drop me an email can send you our clinical protocol or if you wish you can pay us a visit. [email protected]

Jennifer

[Emma Foreman-Davies]

Hi Wendy,

We also allow prescribing for first cycles in accordance with documented Consultant's treatment plan and providing this is included in the NMPs scope of practice. This is written into our chemotherapy treatment policy and our NMP policy.

We also routinely consent patients, provided we have completed our Trust consent training.

Breaking bad news will depend on the NMP and their rapport with the patient. I usually send patients back to the main clinic to have their scan results, but as Jennifer says, if you have built up a good relationship with a patient you may feel able to take this on. It is quite difficult to avoid giving bad news even if it is more 'everyday' bad news like 'your counts are too low to go ahead today' or 'your tumour markers are going up'. It would be good to get some training in this area even if you don't plan to give bad news.

Emma

[Wendy Ng]

Thank you both for the information! 🙂

[Jonathan Barrett]

Hello,
I've been asked to update our NMP Policy so that NMPs can consent patients for SACT and prescribe cycle 1's. Would anyone who is already doing this be able to email me their NMP guideline / policy please?

Thanks a lot
Jon

Jon Barrett, NMP Pharmacist
[email protected]
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[Author]

Posts