Neutropenic Fever, an oncology emergency (1 CEU)

Fever is an abnormally high body temperature. Neutropenic fever (also known as febrile neutropenia) remains one of the most commonly encountered oncologic emergencies, as the number of cancer patients continues to grow. The body’s white blood cells (WBC) function is to fight off infection with Neutrophils being the first line of defense. Neutrophils fight off infection by digesting bacterial organisms and debris. Neutropenic fever most commonly arises in patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and may be the only indication of a severe infection in oncology patients.

Neutropenic fever is considered an oncology emergency, as it occurs at a time when the white blood count level is known or expected to be low and the body’s immune system is severely depressed. Neutropenic fever is a life-threatening situation and should be reported to the primary nurse and MD immediately. Because the body’s normal defenses against infections are down, the survival of patients with neutropenia hinges on the expeditious recognition and appropriate treatment of infection

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this module, the Nurse Assistant will be able to:

1.   Define Neutropenic fever
2.   Demonstrate understanding of why neutropenic fever is an oncology emergency
3.   Outline causes and risk factors for neutropenic fever
4.   Identify clinical consequences of untreated neutropenic fever
5.   Describe management strategies for patients with neutropenic fever.

Instructions for taking the course

To complete the course successfully, you must go through all the lessons below. You MUST mark each lesson as complete by clicking the MARK COMPLETE BUTTON. If you do not click the mark complete button, you will not be allowed to proceed to the next lesson. Please notice that all lessons have a minimum set amount of time that you are expected to spend on each lesson. You will not be allowed to Mark the Lesson Complete until the timer resets to zero; that is, until the minimum time set for the course has passed. For example if lesson A has an allocated minimum time of 10 minutes, you will have to wait 10 minutes before you can mark Lesson A complete. The Mark Complete button for lesson A will be grayed out and will not become active until 10 minutes are over.

WARNINGIf you forget to click the Mark Complete button done, you will be prompted to go back to that lesson again and have to wait till the allocated timed minutes resets to zero again before the Mark Complete button becomes active. After all lessons are completed and they are Marked Completed, you will then be allowed to take the post test. If you successfully pass the quiz, you will earn CEU’s for this course and you can proceed to print out your certificate.

LESSONS & QUIZ BELOW