Development of a Nursing Policy for the Administration of an Oncolytic Virus in the Outpatient Setting

Abstract

Objective: To describe the development of a nursing policy for the administration of oncolytic viruses in therapeutic clinical trials and the unique challenges for infection control and nursing.

Data source: Journal articles, web-based resources, peer-reviewed literature.

Conclusion: Early nursing involvement and inclusion of multidisciplinary hospital departments facilitated the creation of a nursing policy that maintained fidelity to the research protocol and minimized potential risk to nursing staff. A total of 18 doses of oncolytic viruses were administered with no inadvertent exposures to staff or other patients of the oncolytic virus.

Implications for nursing practice: Nursing should be involved at the initiation of a clinical trial to determine whether policies need to be created or changed to maintain the integrity of the research protocol while ensuring the safety of staff and patients.

Keywords: Clinical trial; Immunotherapy; Oncologic nursing; Oncolytic virotherapy; Oncolytic viruses.