The next step for Congress: Cutting a separate deal on twelve individual pockets of money—before any bill can be written, with a shutdown looming. Congressional appropriators are sprinting to turn two big funding totals into 12, after party leaders secured a deal on a government funding framework over the weekend. For weeks, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s staff have haggled over budget totals for the military and domestic programs—only to wind up with the same funding limits set by last summer’s bipartisan debt agreement.

On January 12, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda^®) with chemoradiotherapy for patients with FIGO 2014 stage III–IVA cervical cancer.

If you’ve read an awe-inspiring professional nursing or healthcare article, textbook chapter, or book that hit the mark on quality, accuracy, and readability and found yourself opining, “How did the author do that? I could never write something that great”—stop that thinking!

Standardized fact sheets about clinical trial protocols can ensure compliance and improve communication between research teams and frontline nurses, nurse researchers reported in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. More than 85% of clinical research and frontline nurses said the sheets improved their understanding of the clinical trial protocol.

Nurses represent a substantial percentage of healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) end users, yet 70% say they have little to no knowledge of AI technologies or uses. In an article published in the December 2023 issue of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, ONS members Britney Starr, BSN, RN, OCN^®, and Erin Dickman, DNP, RN, OCN^®, and incoming editor Joni L.

An accomplished physician–scientist with a career dedicated to biomarker-driven research and practice surrounding the development, early detection, and treatment of kidney cancer, W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, took the helm as the National Cancer Institute (NCI) director in December 2023.

Jaimie Vickery, MPP, joined the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) last fall as its next director of government affairs and advocacy. Vickery is the former government affairs lead for Vaccinate Your Family, a national nonprofit organization. 

For oral anticancer medications that can be stored at room temperature, dispensing unused pills can save individuals up to $1,600 per year, researchers reported in study results published in JAMA Oncology.

On December 20, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that Busse Hospital Disposables, Inc., had recalled its tracheostomy care tray, dressing change tray, and tracheostomy care set. Busse’s recall is in direct response to Nurse Assist LLC’s, November 6, 2023, recall of its 0.9% sodium chloride irrigation USP and sterile water for irrigation USP, over sterility concerns, which is the only saline used in the Busse trays and kits.

On December 27, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to healthcare providers and clinical laboratory staff about the potential for false reactive (false positive) results in herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) serologic tests for genital herpes.