Frequent communication between patients and providers is key in getting ahead of adverse events that can occur during breast cancer treatment, explained Madeline Kuiper, MSN, RN, OCN, an oncology nurse practitioner at UCLA.

I like to have my patients come back and see me when I start them on a new therapy every week or every 2 weeks, just so that the patient feels that they've got a point of contact where they can come and discuss that with us. Definitely what we talk about additional lung disease is stopping therapy and doing the workup with CTs and steroids as needed. Adding to that, I'd also automatically refer to my patients to a pulmonologist that we work closely with so that we can both co-manage and maximize this patient and their therapy.

For something like niraparib (Zejula) and decatinib, then addressing diarrhea early is important. [as is] making sure that patients do not dehydrate and lose electrolytes. So we talk about preventative drugs and using those upfront. Again, I would have regular contact with my patient, making sure that if I need to bring them in, I can give them some fluids.

The earlier you intervene, the more compliance you can get with your patients. So monitoring those sorts of things [is important]. Management of fatigue, getting my patients to be as active as possible, continuing to do their exercise, those sorts of things.

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Nurses: Frequently Discuss AEs With Your Patients

When patients with HER2-positive breast cancer know what kind of adverse events to look out for, they tend to have better communication with their healthcare team and, as a result, better compliance and outcomes, according to Madeline Kuiper, MSN, RN, OCN, an oncology nurse practitioner at UCLA.

Unfortunately, there are side effects associated with HER2 therapies, as there are with multiple other types of treatments. But if you can explain that to a patient and help them look for and and understand potential side effects, and actually try to institute practices to mitigate those, patients tend to do much better on therapy, and tend to then commit to their therapy and stay on their therapy consistently. Then we can tend to get long-term therapy in compliance with that. Particularly, my setting is more of a metastatic setting. So I have patients who have been on HER2 therapies for 20 years. And they've done very well because [they're] great drugs, but also because we spend a lot of time going over potential side effects and how to manage them.

It is important that nurses talk with their patients about what kind of adverse events to expect while being treated for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Madeline Kuiper, MSN, RN, OCN

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Nurses: Frequently Discuss AEs With Your Patients

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