If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many employers are beginning to learn that lesson about alternative funding programs, but patients are the ones bearing the brunt of the burden. Oncology nurses have a responsibility to understand that lesson, too—and the power to promote awareness and change.
As we embark on a new year, reflecting on important milestones can inspire us. On July 17, 1975, ONS was incorporated. In 2024, we recognize our 49th year, which means that the grand 50th anniversary is on the horizon. The planning is underway, and we cannot wait to celebrate with you.
Among U.S. high school students, current overall tobacco product use declined nearly 30% in the past year, dropping from 16.5% in 2022 to 12.6% in 2023, according to findings that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
Type 2 diabetes has been linked to an elevated risk for liver, endometrial, pancreatic, and other cancers. Furthermore, patients with diabetes and cancer have higher disease-related mortality and are at a greater risk of infections. Evidence also supports an inverse association between serum HDL cholesterol and cancer risk. To lower their blood sugar and cholesterol levels, some patients use dietary supplements such as berberine.
Patients from underrepresented groups who self-advocate, are actively involved in their care, and have strong social networks have better cancer outcomes, oncology nurse researchers reported in substudy results published in the Oncology Nursing Forum.
Margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza®) received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in December 2020 for previously treated adults with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer after clinical trials demonstrated increased progression-free and overall survival.
Lack of social connections has the health implication equivalency of smoking 15 cigarettes per day, whereas maintaining a strong social community can increase odds of survival by 50%, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, said in a 2023 report.
Given their work and involvement in an individual’s cancer journey, oncology nurses can help motivate and influence patients. Sometimes this motivation leads to particularly special circumstances. Whether you consider it a moment of luck or a chance of fate, everything can fall into place. That was the case for ONS member Robert Zamora, RN, OCN®, a retired oncology and stem cell transplant nurse living in San Antonio, TX, when Linda Hart-Garrahan was put under his care in fall 2015.
In a June 2023 online health panel discussion, current Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and former HHS Secretaries Alex Azar and Kathleen Sebelius spoke to the advocacy community about leading one of the largest federal agencies in the world. They praised the job, people, and cause and highlighted some of the agency’s notable achievements during their respective tenures.
Oncology nurses are particularly vulnerable to the increasing violent incidents in the healthcare workplace, and it might be because of their specialty. “Oncology settings possess baseline patient and family stressors that may have been more pronounced during the pandemic,” researchers reported in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, such as social isolation, inadequate resources, and health misinformation, among others.