“Nursing is at the forefront of symptom management, and nurse-designed interventions lead the way,” Gwen Wyatt, RN, PhD, FAAN, FAPOS, recipient of the 2020 ONS Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award, said in a session at the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference. She shared lessons from her career journey and told nurses that ONS can help them get their ideas “off the drawing board.”
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors can be highly effective cancer treatments, potentially even curative in several disease states, they can cause immune-related adverse events in any tissue or organ system, presenters said in a session at the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference.
During the current opioid epidemic, a safe, balanced approach to pain management is imperative. In an ONS Bridge presentation, Jeannine M. Brant, PhD, APRN, AOCN®, FAAN, discussed the use of opioids in patients with cancer.
Over the past three years, Sharon, age 38, has been intermittently receiving treatment for ovarian cancer. She was initially treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel and remained in remission for 20 months. She responded well to second-line therapy (carboplatin, gemcitabine, and bevacizumab), remaining on bevacizumab maintenance until she experienced a relapse eight months later.
The cacophony that echoes through the 24-hour news cycle can be heavy on an average day but overwhelming during a global health pandemic. That is why relying on a trusted voice is essential when attempting to understand how to deal with the voluminous information that bombards us through radio, television, emails, social media, and any other channels that deem themselves news outlets these days.
Oncology nurses use many tools to help our patients, but one of the most effective is our words. However, our terminology may be overwhelming to patients and feel like medical jargon. We also often use terms to describe how a patient is experiencing cancer, reporting adverse events, noncompliance, failing treatment, and palliative care, which can be confusing and misleading.
Patients who receive bone marrow transplantations require vigilance for complications such as graft versus host disease, opportunistic infections, and febrile neutropenia. During a presentation for the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference, Barbara E. Wenger, DNP, APRN, AOCNS®, CRNI, of UCHealth Metro, and Stephanie Armstrong, DNP, AGNP, NP-C, of Froedtert Hospital Clinical Cancer Center, described interventions to improve care quality in the BMT population.
As many as 50% of patients with cancer receive treatment with radiation therapy with the goal of cure or reducing pain and other symptoms. During a presentation at the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference, Sotiri Stathakis, PhD, DABR, offered nurses insights into the field from the perspective of a medical physicist.
Perhaps now more than ever, oncology nurses may need to be reminded to reflect on what brings them joy and meaning in their work—and how to find it again, if they’ve lost it along the way.