| Sumario: | Significance & Background: 82000 stem cell transplants are done globally creating a need for specialty trained nurses and units. Nursing designed a robust training program that included didactic sessions, simulation exercises, competency assessments, and mentorship pairings. Unit director was to prepare the nursing team for advanced therapies requiring cross-disciplinary coordination, intensive monitoring, and rapid-response capabilities. Purpose: To establish a new Hematologic Malignancy Cell Therapy (HMCT) unit to include autologous stem cell transplants, apheresis, CAR T and bispecific drugs. The expansion of this service required a structured and collaborative approach, with nursing playing a pivotal role in ensuring the successful integration of evidence-based practice, patient safety, and regulatory compliance. In late 2024, the Oncology unit director and nursing department were tasked to open a 4-bed unit to open in January 2025 to include 3 transplant rooms and one apheresis room. The contributions of nursing in the development and implementation of a new HMCT unit included a focus on policy creation, procedural development, staff education, and standardized documentation guided by ONS standards and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) guidelines. Interventions: Nursing worked closely with the service line director, infection specialists, physicians, pharmacists, educators and the Epic team to ensure that every detail of the unit would support a high-acuity patient population and meet the rigorous standards required for stem cell transplantation and these therapies. By leveraging evidence-based standards from ONS and FACT, nursing ensures that the care environment is safe, efficient, and responsive to the unique needs of transplant patients. And empowered the staff to gain knowledge to care for these patients. Results: All of the selected nurses 100% completed training and competency check offs. Facility has served 15 autologous stem cell transplant patients, 16 stem cell apheresis patients, 1 CAR T therapy and multiple Bispecific drugs. There were no unexplained complications. Discussion: Nursing played a significant role in the development of the unit, overseeing every detail. The key nurses created an extensive educational program. The staff completed the Stem Cell Course and the CAR T course from ONS.org. The Nursing Director gathered materials from ONS and FACT and developed an in-person education course to provide education to the nursing team so they could deliver appropriate care for these patients.
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