In clinics across the country, oncology nurses are moving the needle when it comes to patient-centered care. They innovate, create practice change, and are the lifelines for many of their patients. One oncology nurse and ONS member has combined her unique background in software development and health care to form a new business that aims to provide real-time practice resources to oncology nurses.
A large study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that patients with nonmetastatic breast, lung, or colorectal cancer who chose to use only alternative medicine had substantially worse survival than patients who received conventional cancer treatment.
I just finished writing a sympathy card to the family of “Beth.” For the past five years, Beth was in a support group that I facilitate for individuals with advanced cancer. Beth is an example of why I am an oncology nurse. She was an amazing woman. A deliberate thinker, she collected information and made decisions about her health that fit her goals. She once asked me, “How can you continue to care for folks with cancer year after year? It must be hard.”
Although USP Chapter <800> implementation has been delayed, ONS experts are receiving questions about clarifications and specifics for wearing gowns when handling hazardous drugs (HDs). Questions include topics such as hanging gowns and reusing, length of time gowns can be worn, the need for gowns with oral chemotherapy agents, and materials requirements of gowns.
Sepsis is a formidable complication of cancer and cancer treatment. Claiming more than 250,000 lives annually, it is a medical emergency. Do you have sepsis algorithms and protocols in place? Do all specialty areas have a way to identify patients with cancer as a highly vulnerable population? Is sepsis-specific education provided to nurses and patients? Starting the conversation and advocating for policy development and change may just save a life.
The elements of an oncology unit are often very similar from location to location—the crescendo of plastic wheels clicking across brightly shined linoleum, beaming fluorescent lights that flicker to life when switched on, mounted fountains of cool hand sanitizer gel. But although oncology units have many similarities, clear differences exist as well.
Although cigarette use has long been linked to lung cancer, scientists have not understood how the earliest changes in lung cells developed. In a study published in Cancer Cell, researchers showed how cigarette smoke sensitized airway cells to genetic mutations that are known to cause lung cancers.
Evidence-based practice (EBP) results from the integration of available research, clinical expertise, and patient preferences to individualize care and promote effective care decision-making. Oncology nurses are perfectly positioned to be adopters and promoters of EBP, resulting in practice change for improved quality and safety.
Every quadrennial presidential cycle, as the newly elected leader moves into the Oval Office, he selects a core group of advisors who are philosophically aligned and eager to make changes in the federal government’s process. However, this is often not as simple as the new administration believes.
For oncology nurses, quality cancer care isn’t just about individualizing care for your patients, following local and national guidelines to the letter, or educating patients and family members to get them through their cancer diagnosis. Those are critical components to great cancer care, but tangible and intangible elements impact oncology as well.