ABSTRACT: Chemotherapy is used in practice as a way of treating cancer. With this in mind, it is important that veterinary nurses are made aware of how it affects both the patient and the nursing considerations that run alongside the treatment. This article discusses these subjects. It is vital that the mechanism to prevent exposure of veterinary staff to chemotherapeutic drugs is not compromised and that monitoring of the patient is paramount owing to the effect the treatment has on a number of body systems.

Chemotherapeutic drugs are cytotoxic and are designed to kill living cells. With this in mind, it is important that the veterinary nurse understands some of the ways in which the therapy is dealt with by different organs in the animal’s body and the precautions taken to prevent cross¬contamination of the drugs. This article, therefore, is going to discuss the different ways in which chemotherapy affects the patient’s body and the veterinary nurse’s role in caring for patients that are receiving chemotherapy.

Author

Laura Daniels RVN Dip AVN BSC MBVNA

Laura gained her BSc in Veterinary Nursing in 2012. She has worked in a mixed practice for 8 years and has now taken the opportunity to begin a new career as a lecturer in animal management.

Keywords: Clinical, Chemotherapy, Unravelled

To cite this article: Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 28 (09) • August 2013 • pp256-258

To gain access to this article, select one of the links below:

I am a BVNA member

I am accessing through my Institute

I am paying to gain access to this article