Infusion Nurse

Who these nurses care for

Outpatients receiving chemotherapy, biologics, antibiotics and blood products.

What the shift actually looks like

Chair-based outpatients on chemotherapy, biologics or antibiotics. Port access, reaction monitoring and long patient relationships. Predictable hours, which is much of the appeal.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required

BLS; ONS chemotherapy/biotherapy certification for oncology infusion

Typical ratio

Typically 1:4 to 1:6 chairs

What to specify when you send the req

Whether chemotherapy is administered, port access expectations, and reaction management protocols.

Why this role is hard to fill

Chemotherapy certification is a hard gate, not a preference. Requesting it late in the process restarts the search.

What candidates ask before accepting

Answering these in the req itself shortens the process considerably, because they are the questions that otherwise surface at offer stage and cause declines: Whether chemotherapy is administered, certification requirements, and chair-to-nurse ratio.

Contract or permanent?

Contract for census swings, leave coverage and seasonal surge. Per diem to protect ratios without expanding core FTE. Permanent when the seat is structural. The expensive mistake is running contract labour for eighteen months on a role that was always permanent.

Licensure

Registered nursing is covered by the Nurse Licensure Compact in most of the country, so a multistate license lets a nurse work across member states without a new application. Thirteen jurisdictions sit outside it — Alaska, California, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands — and in those markets every out-of-state nurse needs a single-state license first. Those are the markets where reqs stay open longest.

How we work this req

Every candidate is spoken to before you see them, with licensure for your state, certifications and unit-specific competency confirmed before submittal. We screen to the credential the unit actually needs rather than the title on the posting. Rates sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown.