An audit of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children

Abstract

An audit was conducted of the management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children and young people in the national Irish paediatric cancer unit. Over three months, the anti-emetic medication and the incidence of nausea and vomiting in 50 consecutive patient episodes were recorded among 25 children receiving chemotherapy for diverse malignancies. Anti-emetic prescription was found to be unrelated to the emetogenic potential of the chemotherapy received, so that effectiveness varied. Dexamethasone was used in only one case. Twenty children did not take any anti-emetics following discharge, although 11 experienced delayed vomiting, evidence-based guidelines were established and now include anti-emetic prescription that is proportional to the emetogenic potential of the chemotherapeutic regimen. It is also recommended that staff, patients, families and carers should receive education about the need for prescription and use of anti-emetics after discharge.

Pediatric Nurses’ Person-Centered Approach to Nausea Management in Children With Cancer

“…In order to improve a child's health, interventions to decrease nausea become a fundamental part of their cancer treatment (Clinton et al, 2012). Today, the combination of 5-HT3 (serotonin) antagonists and dexamethasone is the most common and effective pharmacological treatment for nausea (Phillips et al, 2016).…”

Instrument de mesure de la nausée chez l’enfant : traduction française et validité des visages pour les patients canadiens francophones en oncopédiatrie

“…En 2006, nous avons élaboré le Pediatric Nausea Assessment Tool (PeNAT [instrument de mesure de la nausée chez l'enfant]), une échelle visuelle analogique à quatre visages dérivée de l'échelle de la douleur de Wong-Baker, qui s'accompagne d'un scénario explicatif pour l'évaluation de la nausée chez les patients anglophones âgés de 4 à 18 ans sous chimiothérapie (Dupuis, Taddio, Kerr et al, 2006). Le PeNAT anglais, valide et fiable (Dupuis, Taddio, Kerr et al, 2006), est utilisé pour décrire l'intensité de la nausée chez les enfants recevant différents traitements chimiothérapiques (Vol, Flank, Lavoratore et al, 2016;Patel, Lavoratore, Flank et al, 2019;Clinton, Dowling et Capra, 2012), pour jauger l'efficacité des interventions visant à soulager les nausées et vomissements (Dupuis, Kelly, Krischer et al, 2018;Evans, Malvar, Garretson et al, 2018) et pour évaluer la gravité des nausées dans le cadre des soins cliniques habituels (McKionnon et Jupp, 2019). Cependant, son utilisation se limite aux patients anglophones.…”