From the workforce to the populations that the discoveries support, America’s science and technology ecosystem is in dire need of diversity and equity, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said. In December 2022, it launched an action plan to create avenues in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine for previously excluded communities.
Across all nursing specialties and settings, 60% of nurses reported experiencing an incident of workplace bullying and incivility and 29% confronted at least one incident of violence in 2022, according to the American Nurses Foundation 2022 Workplace Survey report. And it’s escalating—violence against hospital employees and healthcare professionals has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, with 44% of nurses reporting having experienced physical violence and 67% verbal abuse between February and June 2020 alone.
To try to get ahead of a feared increase of COVID-19 cases over the winter, the Biden-Harris administration released a COVID-19 winter preparedness plan in December 2022 that focuses on making vaccinations, testing, and other resources easily accessible.
On February 3, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy®) for unresectable locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (IHC 0, IHC 1+, or IHC 2+/ISH–) breast cancer who have received endocrine-based therapy and at least two additional systemic therapies in the metastatic setting.
To uncover what you value and whether your ONS membership is currently meeting your needs, ONS surveys its members every January. Your responses help us understand how you experience ONS and what is important to you as well as the challenges you face and the skills you need for the future. This year, 1,068 of you returned your surveys, and I am grateful that you took the time to provide your feedback.
Maria is a Black nurse who has worked at her institution’s cancer center for several years. She enjoys educating her colleagues about burnout and well-being to create a happier and healthier work environment and actively supports the institution’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee priorities and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) nurses in practice.
People encounter significant changes after being diagnosed with cancer. Oncology nurses can help patients and caregivers adapt by using motivational interviewing–based communication strategies.
Healthcare providers are less likely to talk to Black patients with metastatic breast cancer about opportunities to enroll in clinical trials than they are with patients from other racial or ethnic backgrounds, researchers reported at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting.
On January 27, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved elacestrant (Orserdu®) for postmenopausal women or adult men with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, ESR1-variant advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following at least one line of endocrine therapy.
Oncology nurses recognize the value of mentorship in their practice, crediting it to bridging knowledge gaps, identifying best practices, building confidence, and providing a rock and safe person to go to. January is National Mentoring Month, and we’ve asked ONS members to share their own experiences that have helped them grow professionally and personally.