The nurse is speaking with a client recently diagnosed with cancer. He asks why he is receiving more than one drug to treat it over such a long period of time? What is the best response by the nurse?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Rationale 1 Combination therapy is common for treating particular cancers and are not just used for treatment of side effects.
Rationale 2 This gives normal cells time to recover from the adverse effects of the drugs and allows tumour cells that may not have been replicating at the time of the first dose to begin dividing and become more sensitive to the next round of chemotherapy
Rationale 3 Combination chemotherapy also allows for lower dosages of each individual agent, thereby reducing toxicity and slowing the development of resistance.
Rationale 4 Using multiple drugs affects the different stages of the cancer cell's life cycle and attacks the various clones within the tumour via several mechanisms of action, thus increasing the percentage of cell kill. 
Rationale 5 This is not a true statement.

The Nurse Is Speaking with a Client Recently Diagnosed with Cancer