-But Why? What will the checklist accomplish, but be yet another way to waste time? This checklist and certification madness has taken on a life of its own. All the checklists in the world will not increase efficiency or knowledge, nor will they stop mistakes.

-I disagree, in this case is it is one way to at least document minimimal competency, esp. for Joint Commission. Personally I despise the Joint but until they are abondoned we are stuck. You may be mistaking certification in Oncology for documenting compentency. In no way can either certification which is another matter altogether, or documenting compentency (similar to CPR certification by the way) prevent mistakes but at least it is a way to demonstate that at one time, the nurse knew what they are doing.

The Oncology Nursing Society has en excellent guideline for chemotherapy administration including a clinical compentency check off. In my institution as in any number where my peers practice, we use this after chemo class to initially document compentency and then once a year in a recert peer to peer. It is not onerous at all. I would much rather know that the nurses giving my patients chemo are at least able to meet these minimal standards than sort of hit or miss approuch.