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Two Oncology Nurses Implement Process to Allow Patients to Disconnect Pumps From the Comfort of Their Own Homes

Two Oncology Nurses Implement Process to Allow Patients to Disconnect Pumps From the Comfort of Their Own Homes

Innovative Oncology Nurses Break Down Communication Barriers for Patients Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Special Populations

Innovative Oncology Nurses Break Down Communication Barriers for Patients Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

How I Practice Mindfulness as an Oncology Nurse

Nurse well-being

How I Practice Mindfulness as an Oncology Nurse

Clinical and Pharmaceutical Nurse Educators Collaborate to Bring Training to Nurses and Improve Patient Care

Oncology nurse education

Clinical and Pharmaceutical Nurse Educators Collaborate to Bring Training to Nurses and Improve Patient Care

January 13, 2023

Oncology Nurse Uses Retirement to Help Patients and Healthcare Professionals Understand Pancreatic Cancer Biomarker Testing Results

Pancreatic cancer

Oncology Nurse Uses Retirement to Help Patients and Healthcare Professionals Understand Pancreatic Cancer Biomarker Testing Results

November 11, 2022

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Cancer screening

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Updates Cancer Screening Recommendations

Because of insufficient evidence, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s (USPSTF’s) 2023 skin cancer recommendations advise that “the balance of benefits and harms for visual skin examination by a clinician to screen for skin cancer in asymptomatic adolescents and adults cannot be determined.” For breast cancer, the USPSTF’s 2023 recommendation stated that all women should get screened every other year, starting at age 40.

Health Disparities Take a Toll on the U.S. Economy, NIH-Funded Study Finds

Racial and ethnic health disparities cost the U.S. economy $451 billion in 2018, a 41% increase from the 2014 estimate of $320 billion, according to results from a study funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers also reported that the total burden of education-related health disparities for people with less than a college degree reached $978 billion in 2018.

Oncology nurse pride

U.S. Congress Introduces Resolution to Celebrate National Nurses Week

Honoring the important contributions of nurses, U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) and U.S. Representatives Dave Joyce (R-OH), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL) introduced a bipartisan, bicameral resolution to recognize National Nurses Week.

NIH Acting Director Shares Progress on Novel Nanoparticle for Childhood Cancer Brain Tumor

Noting the complexity of the human brain and brain tumors, Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discussed in an April 2023 blog post the findings from a NIH-funded research that may suggest novel nanoparticles can help bypass the blood-brain barrier and deliver drugs to treat medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer diagnosed in hundreds of children each year.

Prescription medication

Medicare Part D Restructure Gives CMS the Ability to Negotiate Drug Prices

Health care consumes an inordinate amount of the U.S. gross domestic product at 18.3%. In 2021, healthcare spending increased by 2.7% to $4.3 trillion, equating to $12,914 per person annually. Under that average, prescription medications are the highest expenditure. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “Retail prescription drug spending increased 7.8% to $378.0 billion in 2021, a faster rate than in 2020 when spending increased by 3.7%. The acceleration in growth was due to an increase in the use of prescription drugs in 2021.” On top of that staggering national economic impact are the personal, emotional, and familial burdens that take a toll on patients and caregivers.

Caregiver support

President Biden Signs Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers

Calling it “the most comprehensive set of executive actions any president has ever taken to make care more affordable and accessible for hardworking families and further support care workers and family caregivers,” the Biden-Harris administration announced a series of executive orders to broaden the availability of support services and resource across the United States. The April 2023 order included more than 50 directives for government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services.

Oncology Clinician, Researcher, Advocate—and Patient Herself—to Become Second Woman to Lead NIH

Praising her vision and leadership as a world-renowned surgical oncologist, cancer researcher, and educator, on May 15, 2023, the White House announced President Joe Biden’s nomination of Monica Bertagnolli, MD, as the next National Institutes of Health director.

ONS Joins Sponsoring Organizations to Support 118th Congressional Nursing Caucus

To strengthen and advance policies for nurses, U.S. Representatives Dave Joyce (D-OH), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), and Jen Kiggans (R-VA) launched the 118th Congressional Nursing Caucus in April 2023. Joyce and Bonamici are the caucus co-chairs, and Underwood, an RN, and Kiggans, a geriatric nurse practitioner, serve as vice chairs. ONS is a sponsoring organization in support of the caucus’s congressional efforts.

Cancer moonshot

America Needs Better Access and Equity to Reduce Mortality Rates and Achieve Cancer Moonshot Goals

U.S. healthcare providers need improved access to interventions known to prevent common causes of cancer death so the country can achieve President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years, according to a National Institutes of health study published in April 2023 that was led by National Cancer Institute researchers.

Cancer treatments

Advancements in Childhood Cancer Move Toward Personalized Treatments

Personalizing cancer treatments through targeted drugs and customized doses can make strides in care for pediatric patients with cancer, cancer specialists said in the National Institutes of Health's News in Health.

Special Populations

NIH’s UNITE Takes Steps to Address and Eliminate Ethnic and Racial Disparities

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH's) UNITE, a think tank that identifies and addresses structural racism in NIH and the biomedical research enterprise, began taking steps in February 2021 to address disparities across NIH and the medical community. The think tank’s actions included revising the selection process for NIH director’s awards and establishing a new program to provide additional training opportunities to employees of color, according to UNITE’s first progress report.

Cancer risk prevention

FDA Files Complaints Against Four E-Cigarette Product Manufacturers

In an attempt to strongly regulate the e-cigarettes and vapes industry, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed civil money penalty complaints against four tobacco product manufacturers for manufacturing and selling e-liquid products without authorization. The action marks the first time FDA has filed CMP complaints against tobacco product manufacturers to enforce the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s premarket review requirements for new tobacco products.

Public Health Emergency Funding Ends, HHS Provides Transition

With the anticipated end of the public health emergency looming after three years of being consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services, wrote a letter to state governors praising their efforts in the pandemic, offering a supportive hand, and highlighting the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments in combating COVID-19.

CMS Promotes Plans to Build a System for Patient Safety

Across disciplines, all healthcare providers take a practice oath that supports the principle of nonmaleficence (“first, do no harm”)—and so does the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), several agency leaders wrote in a March 2023 blog post. The authors called for increased awareness of patient safety and highlighted ways CMS is taking action.

Cancer risk prevention

It’s Time to Stop E-Cigarette Manufacturers From Blowing Smoke About Youth Tobacco Use

Joe Camel, the Marlboro Man, and the women who’ve “come a long way, baby” with Virginia Slims are marketing mascots that created an image of smoking as cool, chic, and classy—a concept that’s still cemented in the minds of many Americans today. For the past 30 years, public awareness campaigns have battled that belief among young people to dramatically curtail underage smoking, finally reaching a real reduction in youth tobacco use.

Patient financial advocacy

United States Lags Behind Other Nations in Health Care

Despite Americans spending more for health care than other high-income countries, the United States has the highest rates of death for avoidable or treatable conditions, maternal and infant mortality, and suicide, researchers reported in an analysis study published in January 2023 by the Commonwealth Fund.

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Everyone Has a Role in NCI’s National Cancer Plan

Recharting the trajectory of cancer in the United States requires involvement from everyone—government and private investors, researchers, clinicians, and people with cancer, their caregivers, and advocates, the National Cancer Institute said in April 2023 as it launched the National Cancer Plan. The plan supports the Cancer Moonshot initiative and “aligns broad societal engagement and focuses on critical needs to end cancer as we know it.”

Cancer screening

Task Force Recommends Patient Navigation Services Increase Certain Cancer Screening to Advance Health Equity

Patient navigation services must increase breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening for disadvantaged racial and ethnic populations and people with lower incomes, the Community Preventive Services Task Force recommended. Patient navigation services, coupled with timely and appropriate follow-up care and treatment, could improve health equity for these groups, in some cases reducing cancer mortality and incidence, the task force added.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA Proposes Guidelines and Restrictions for Blood Donations

Taking into consideration the history of HIV/AIDS and upholding COVID-19–related guidelines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed adjusting blood donor eligibility from time-based deferrals to assessing donor eligibility using gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV.

Patient advocacy

Rare Cancer Survivor and Oncologist Speak About the Cancer Journey and Challenges in the Patient Experience

Deanna Fournier, a cancer survivor, and Eli Diamond, MD, a neuro-oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, discussed Fournier’s cancer journey and the progress toward a better patient experience during a National Cancer Institute Office of Cancer Survivorship lecture. Communicating with patients throughout their cancer journey can help healthcare providers, including oncology nurses, support patients and advocate for their unique needs.

Uterine Cancers Added to World Trade Center Health Program List

Almost 22 years after the September 11, 2001, atacks, the World Trade Center Health Program has added all types of uterine cancer to its list of WTC-related health conditions. The WTC Health Program assists patients with treatment costs for uterine cancers that meet WTC-related health condition eligibility and certification requirements.

Cancer risk prevention

NIH Researchers Make Progress Toward a Possible HIV Vaccine

An experimental HIV vaccine increased participants’ broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) precursor B cells that enable the body to develop bnAb-producing B cells and fight HIV, researchers reported in study results published in December 2022. The progress comes more than a decade after researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Center first discovered the rare class of antibodies.

Cancer Knows No Party, but Politicians Proudly Proclaim Their Prognoses and Promote Policy

From President Richard Nixon’s war on cancer in 1971 to President Joe Biden’s commitment to “ending cancer as we know it” in 2022, fighting the disease has been a bipartisan focus. Yet in that era, when cancer hit home, policymakers often hushed their own diagnoses. But times change, and many of today’s lawmakers are now boldly sharing their personal experiences with cancer as inspiration for action.

Cultural Educational Classic Schoolhouse Rock! Turns 50 and Continues to Educate

Schoolhouse Rock! celebrated its 50th anniversary in January 2023. The Saturday morning cartoons debuted in 1973 and brought school lessons on a variety of subjects, including government and democracy, to children through catchy yet educational lyrics and beats.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA Updates Mammography Regulations to Promote Better Screenings and Communication for Patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its mammography regulations in March 2023 to require institutions to notify patients about their breast density. The updated regulations strengthen FDA’s oversight and enforcement of institutions and help healthcare providers better categorize and assess mammograms.

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To discuss the information in this article with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To report a content error, inaccuracy, or typo, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

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Alec Stone MA, MPA, ONS Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy

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