Chemotherapy Extravasation: Establishing a National Benchmark for Incidence Among Cancer Centers

Area of Science:

• Oncology Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Pharmacovigilance

Background:

• Chemotherapy administration carries high risks and requires specialized nursing care.
• There is a lack of established industry benchmarks for chemotherapy extravasation.
• Oncology nurses initiated a study on nursing-sensitive indicators specific to chemotherapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a benchmark incidence rate for chemotherapy extravasation.
• To provide data on extravasation events involving vesicants, irritants, and agents with vesicant potential.

Main Methods:

• Evaluation of infusions with actual or suspected extravasations of vesicant and irritant chemotherapies.
• Review of extravasation events by agent type, drug category, administration route, and harm level.
• Analysis of patient follow-up and referrals for surgical consultation.

Main Results:

• A total of 739,812 infusions were analyzed.
• 673 chemotherapy extravasation events were identified.
• The overall incidence of chemotherapy extravasation was 0.09%.

Conclusions:

• The study established a benchmark incidence for chemotherapy extravasation.
• Findings provide critical data for improving patient safety in chemotherapy administration.
• This benchmark can guide future quality improvement initiatives in oncology nursing.