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.

The transition of chemotherapy and immunotherapy delivery from the acute care and clinic settings to the home setting has created a need for innovative strategies to keep patients safe. Today, with decreased face-to-face interactions, the need for those strategies and tools is even greater in a system reliant on multiple facilities and disciplines to collaborate care in a time when resources are sometimes scarce or minimal, Mary Jo Sarver, ARNP, AOCN^®, CRNI, VA-BC, LNC, said in an on-demand session for the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference.

Bullying behaviors remain prevalent in nursing, resulting in turnover, poor work performance, and emotional trauma. During a session for the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference, Terri Townsend, MA, RN, CCRN-CMC, CMSRN, of Community Hospital Anderson, and Pamela Anderson, MSN, RN, CCRN, ANP-BC, of St. Vincent Medical Group, shed light on how to eliminate this pervasive issue.

Resources that can be used by nurses and other oncology healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers to improve the care of patients with cancer, were recently launched by the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) in its first set of five systematically reviewed clinical practice ONS Guidelines™ for managing cancer treatment-related side effects.

Because of treatment effects on hormones, women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer have an increased risk of frequent and severe hot flashes after treatment. As many as 80% of patients across both genders experience the symptom, which can have an impact on sleep, mood, energy, and sexual function.

On September 4, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pralsetinib (Gavreto™) for adult patients with metastatic, RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as detected by an FDA approved test.

The miR-181a microRNA may turn off two genes and lead to the development of high-grade serous ovarian cancer, researchers reported in Nature Communications. The finding is significant because not much is known about how ovarian cancer develops and it’s difficult to detect in its earlier stages.

On September 8, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it did not approve atezolizumab (Tecentriq^®) in combination with paclitaxel for treatment of breast cancer after a clinical trial studying the use of atezolizumab and paclitaxel in patients with previously untreated inoperable locally advanced or metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) showed the drug combination did not work to treat the disease.   

Mylan understands that you care about your patients and that this may be a difficult time for them. Now more than ever, additional treatment options, such as biosimilars offerings may play an important role in providing patients access to medications they need.    

Retaining a qualified nurse workforce is a constant and costly challenge for healthcare organizations. An on-demand session for the inaugural ONS Bridge™ virtual conference reviewed strategies two institutions used to address the issue.