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Nurse practitioners must take an active role in defining and establishing their practices. In many cases, medical and administrative staffs develop the NP job description. As a result, many NPs are finding themselves in unsatisfactory, often task-oriented roles. This problem is largely due to NPs' inexperience in establishing practices and a lack of documentation of current practices. When developing the NP practice within the National Cancer Institute-Medicine Branch, it was apparent that the nursing literature offered no information on how to establish an NP practice. This article presents guidelines for developing an NP practice and is based on information obtained during the developmental stages of the nurse practitioner practice at the National Cancer Institute-Medicine Branch.

There have been reports in the medical community of hesitation regarding the administration of didanosine to adult HIV patients because of the fear of the documented toxicities associated with didanosine. The most worrisome toxicities include pancreatitis and peripheral neuropathy. With close observation and follow-up, these toxicities can almost always be avoided or easily reversed. This article attempts to allay these fears so that the practitioner can administer this effective antiretroviral confidently and safely. The development of nucleoside and the pharmacology of didanosine are discussed. Drug administration information is provided, including a description of the different forms of didanosine currently available. Guidelines for assessing toxicities associated with didanosine, as well as suggestions for patient education, are also provided. Data gathered at the National Cancer Institute in the phase I didanosine trial indicate that early detection and discontinuation of didanosine, in nearly all cases, can limit or lessen the extent of morbidity.

2',3'-Dideoxyinosine (ddI) is a dideoxynucleoside currently in Phase I, II, and III trials for antiretroviral therapy. It has been shown to cause objective and subjective improvement in people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC). This drug, as with any drug, is not without toxicity. Through thorough patient education and clinical evaluation, incidence of these toxicities may be lessened or avoided.

We investigated the effects of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rGM-CSF) administered by the subcutaneous route, first alone and then alternating with azidothymidine (AZT), in leukopenic patients with severe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Ten patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or related disorders, five of whom could not tolerate conventional doses of AZT, were administered rGM-CSF subcutaneously for 12 days. They then were administered an alternating regimen using AZT for 1 week, followed by 5 days of subcutaneous rGM-CSF and 2 days without any medication. During the initial 12 days of GM-CSF administration, there was an increase in the mean white blood cell (WBC) value. In addition, rGM-CSF stimulated circulating monocytes as evidenced by an increase in superoxide anion production and expression of surface HLA-DR antigen. However, at the same time rGM-CSF increased the serum HIV p24 antigen in each of the six evaluable patients from 189 x/divided by 2.02 pg/mL (geometric mean x/divided by SEM) at entry to 375 x/divided by 2.11 pg/mL (P less than .05). During the subsequent period of alternating AZT and rGM-CSF treatment, serum HIV p24 antigen fell below the day 14 value in most patients, particularly after the weeks of AZT administration. The mean T4 cell value increased in patients who had not previously received AZT, but generally did not change in those who had prior AZT exposure. Hematologic toxicity appeared to be somewhat reduced compared with continuous full-dose AZT therapy, and two patients with previous AZT hematologic toxicity tolerated this alternating regimen for 25 weeks. Additional regimens simultaneously combining these two agents are worth exploring.