The Need to Address Nonmalignant Afflictions in Hematology Nursing

Mairéad Ní Chonghaile, RGN, BNS, MSc, Vice President of the Haematology Nurses & Healthcare Professionals Group in Dublin, Ireland, spoke with Heme Today at the European Hematology Association 2024 Hybrid Congress in Madrid, Spain. She explained that the lack of attention given to nonmalignant disease is a major issue in hematology nursing.

Ní Chonghaile noted her training was purely hematology-based, an experience that contrasts with many hematology nurses who started from an oncology background and later entered hematology.

“It was not an oncology course, so it was pure hematology, looking at hemophilia, looking at hemoglobinopathies and things like that,” she said.

According to Ní Chonghaile, there is a lack of nurses with classical hematology training, and a support network to help address nonmalignant hematologic issues in patients is needed.

“There are really good groups out there that have done fantastic work, but it’s all malignant-based. That’s why one of the first education programs we did was on immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Because it’s nonmalignant, it’s a very poorly supported area,” she said.

Ní Chonghaile stressed that patients who have a chronic disease such as myeloma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can be severely affected by nonmalignant hematologic issues, even if the chronic disease is currently under control. She noted the effect of COVID-19 on elderly patients with such conditions dramatically illustrated this point.

“You had an awful lot of patients out there with CLL who have compromised immune systems and were living day-to-day with no problems, and suddenly COVID came along and decimated a lot of those populations,” Ní Chonghaile explained.