Critical infections in the pediatric oncologic patient.

Over the past three decades, significant progress has been made in the treatment of childhood cancers. These advances derive not only from the effectiveness of the multimodal approach but also because of advances in supportive measures during the critical induction phase of therapy. The impact of disease and therapy on the immune system significantly compromises the child to a critical state. Astute application of the nursing process in assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating measures to prevent, detect, and treat infectious processes in the granulocytopenic child is one of the critical challenges of nursing the child with cancer.