Episode 174: Administer Pembrolizumab Immunotherapy With Confidence

Sep 24, 2021

ONS member Marianne Davies, DNP, ACNP, AOCNP®, FAAN, nurse practitioner at the Smilow Cancer Center at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate professor at the Yale University School of Nursing, both in New Haven, CT, and member of the Central Connecticut ONS Chapter, joins Stephanie Jardine, BSN, RN, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, to discuss how oncology nurses can safely administer pembrolizumab immunotherapy and manage its associated adverse events. This episode is part of an ongoing series about outpatient oncology drug infusion. The others are linked in the episode notes. The advertising messages in this episode are paid for by Breast Cancer Index. 

Episode Notes 

Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• NCPD contact hours are not available for this episode. 

• Previous Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes on outpatient oncology drug infusion 

• ONS Voice article: Long-Term irAEs From Checkpoint Inhibitors Have Considerations for Survivorship 

• Immuno-Oncology Learning Library 

• Learn more about Davies’s ONS Congress® presentation on combination immune checkpoint inhibitors. 

• ONS book: Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice 

• ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate Course 

• ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate Renewal Course 

• ONS Communities thread where members discussed laboratory parameters for side effects  

• AIM With Immunotherapy 

• American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines on adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitors 

• National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines on managing immunotherapy-related toxicities 

• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings 

• Pembrolizumab package insert

• Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.  

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [e-mail].