The Oncology Phone

The Oncology Nursing Leadership Team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania designed and implemented a phone consultation and intervention service to address increasing needs for specialty oncology nursing consultation and care for patients located on nononcology units. This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of this service, which the team named the oncology phone. The service is available 24 hours per day, seven days per week by members of the Oncology Nursing Leadership Team and designated senior members of the clinical nursing staff. Consultation is initiated by any clinical nurse throughout the hospital who determines the need for oncology nursing expertise. Those needs include support for chemotherapy administration, symptom management, and care coordination. Data are collected from each call as well as subsequent face-to-face consultations and interventions. Evaluation of the data reveals important areas for education. A similar program may be valuable to other inpatient settings in addressing the needs of patients and staff.