The Nurse's Role in Managing Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting An International Survey

Background: Nurses play a substantial role in the prevention and management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). Objectives: This study set out to describe nurses' roles in the prevention and management of CINV and to identify any gaps that exist across countries. Methods: A self-reported survey was completed by 458 registered nurses who administered chemotherapy to cancer patients in Australia, China, Hong Kong, and 9 Latin American countries. Results: More than one-third of participants regarded their own knowledge of CINV as fair to poor. Most participants (965%) agreed that chemotherapy-induced nausea and chemotherapy-induced vomiting should be considered separately (79%), but only 35% were confident in their ability to manage chemotherapy-induced nausea (53%) or chemotherapy-induced vomiting (59%). Only one-fifth reported frequent use of a standardized CINV assessment tool and only a quarter used international clinical guidelines to manage CINV. Conclusions: Participants perceived their own knowledge of CINV management to be insufficient. They recognized the need to develop and use a standardized CINV assessment tool and the importance of adopting international guidelines to inform the management of CINV. Implications for Practice: Findings indicate that international guidelines should be made available to nurses in clinically relevant and easily accessible formats, that a review of chemotherapy assessment tools should be undertaken to identify reliable and valid measures amenable to use in a clinical settings, and that a CINV risk screening tool should be developed as a prompt for nurses to enable timely identification of and intervention for patients at high risk of CINV.