“Sometimes you think, ‘Oh, these are just bladder patients; it’s different.’ But it might not be different. They still have a cancer diagnosis; this is still going to be a very fearful and unsettling time for that patient and their caregivers,” Tiffany Kurtz, MSN, RN, OCN®, manager of outpatient oncology at Summa Health Cancer Institute in Akron, OH, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS. Kurtz discussed intravesical administration and oncology nurses’ role in the treatment. You can earn free NCPD contact hours after listening to this episode and completing the evaluation linked below.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org  by June 23, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to the nurse's role in intravesical medication administration.

Episode Notes

• Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.
• Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes:
  • Episode 209: Updates in Chemo PPE and Safe Handling
  • Episode 197: Patient Learning Needs and Educational Assessments
  • Episode 179: Learn How to Educate Patients During Immunotherapy
  • Episode 114: Intravesicular Chemotherapy Considerations for Oncology Nurses
  • Episode 87: What Are the Biggest Barriers to Patient Education?
• ONS courses:
  • Fundamentals of Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Administration
  • ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate Course
  • ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate Renewal Course
  • Safe Handling Basics
• ONS books:
  • Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice (second edition)
  • Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs (third edition)
• ONS Huddle Cards:
  • Chemotherapy
  • Immunotherapy
• ONS Learning Libraries:
  • Cancer of the Genitourinary Tract
  • Immuno-Oncology

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

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].

Highlights From Today’s Episode

“Intravesical administration is a localized or regional treatment. It’s only going to affect the area of the body that the medication comes in contact with. So because it is administered in the bladder, the common side effects that we’re going to see are going to be localized to the bladder.” Timestamp (TS) 02:09

“Oncology nurses that are trained in administering chemotherapy and, in particular, intravesical chemotherapy, should administer these treatments. At my institution, all outpatient oncology RNs must obtain their ONS chemotherapy and immunotherapy provider card. In addition, any new outpatient oncology nurses that get hired in review education specifically on bladder installation, the different anticancer agents that are used, and how to perform the procedure. And then they work with their preceptor and have to be checked off on a competency checklist as being competent before they can administer it independently.” TS 10:39

“It’s always best to practice with a questioning attitude and put safety first. If something doesn’t seem right, always check with the provider first.” TS 16:40

“It needs to be clear that it’s not IV treatment, and it’s sad to say, but we’ve had patients come into our infusion centers before and have no idea that they were getting a catheter placed. Like, no idea. And it’s like, okay, there was definitely a communication breakdown or a lack of something.” TS 27:04

“Make sure you’re assessing the patients and where they’re at in their learning needs, and their education level, and what they can comprehend. Make sure that they understand; they need to know they’re getting a urinary catheter into the bladder and not an IV. But of course, there’s many other things they’re going to need educating on.” TS 27:33