Supportive care

Caring for a child with cancer requires careful attention to prevent and manage complications associated with therapy. The following are supportive care guidelines to assist physicians, nurses and allied health care workers to provide the best possible care.

The following documents are available in Adobe® PDF (portable document format). This requires the use of the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader plug-in, which can be downloaded free of charge.

Source for additional information include:
Supportive Care of Children with Cancer, 3rd Edition 2004, Ed. A. Altman, Publisher: The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

The information on this site, i.e. guideline/educational material/policy or procedure, has been developed for use only within BC Children's Hospital (BC Children’s). There are support systems at BC Children’s that may not exist in other clinical settings, and therefore, any adoption of these materials cannot be the responsibility of BC Children’s. Agencies other than BC Children’s should use this information as a guideline for reference purposes only. All materials are the property of BC Children’s and may only be reprinted in whole or in part with our expressed permission.

Oncologic Emergencies
        Infection Related Issues
        Fever & Neutropenia Guidelines
        Fever without Neutropenia Guidelines
        Airway / Superior Vena Cava Obstruction
        Allergy or Anaphylactic Reactions
        Hemorrhage
        Raised Intracranial Pressure
        Septic Shock
        Spinal Cord Compression
        Transfusion Emergencies
        Tumour Lysis
        Typhlitis

Chemotherapy Administration
        Information on most chemotherapy agents can be found on the BC Cancer Agency website
        The following provide safe practice guidelines for drug administration in children.
        Levels of Care for Chemotherapy Administration
        Chemotherapy Administration Competencies for Community Pediatric Nurses
        Chemotherapy Administration - Physician issues
        Chemotherapy Administration - Nursing Competencies - contact Pia DeZorzi (pdezorzi@cw.bc.ca, phone: 604-875-2345 ext 7136)
        Anthracycline Administration Guidelines
        Safe Prescribing Practices

Symptom Management
        Common Treatment Related Problems
        Pain Management
        Blood & Blood Products Support - A Clinical Guide to Transfusion is available at the Canadian Blood Services website

Nutritional Support
        Pediatric Oncology Patient
        Nutrition and Radiation
        High Calorie Beverages
        Special Products Distribution Centre
        NG Tube or No NG Tube

Procedures

        Sedation
        Venous Access
        Lumbar Punctures
        It is strongly recommended that only Physicians who have had specific teaching and been
        supervised in administration of intrathecal chemotherapy perform the procedure.

Rehabilitation Services
        Occupational Therapy
        Physiotherapy

Immunization for Oncology Patients
        Immunization Guidelines

Page updated November 2009

Links

Privacy

PHSA improves the health of British Columbians by seeking province-wide solutions to specialized health care needs in collaboration with BC health authorities and other partners. For more information, visit http://www.phsa.ca

PHSA agencies include: BC Cancer Agency, BC Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, BC Mental Health & Addiction Services, BC Provincial Renal Agency, BC Transplant, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre, and Cardiac Services BC.