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    patient looking at nurse with compassion
    Oncology Nurse-Patient Relationship
    How a Simple Conversation Led Me to Create Meaningful Change in Cancer Clinical Practice
    October 03, 2024
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    Decision-Making
    A Graduation Ceremony Against All Odds: Oncology Nurse Honors a Student’s Final Wish  
    September 26, 2024
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    Patient Quality of Life
    Tell Me What’s Happening
    September 12, 2024
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    Interprofessional Issues
    Novel, Interprofessional Approach Enhances Bed Assignments for Individuals on Antineoplastic Drugs in a Hospital Setting
    August 22, 2024
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    Nurse Empowerment
    How AI Can Support Oncology Nurses’ Spirit of Inquiry
    August 15, 2024
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    cryotherapy in mouth
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    What Advanced Practice Providers Need to Know About Oral Mucositis

    Mucositis is a common side effect of many cancer treatments, with incidence rates of 40% in patients receiving chemotherapy, 80% in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantations, and up to 100% in patients receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer. The literature reports mucositis less frequently with targeted agents and immunotherapies; however, it should be considered in an advance practice provider’s approach to overall immune-related adverse event prevention, assessment, and management. 

    September 19, 2024
    Nurse sitting with a man wearing a suite looking at computers
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Nurse–Engineer Collaboration Creates Innovative Solutions to Healthcare Challenges

    As innovators and leaders, oncology nurses and advanced practice providers are increasingly collaborating with engineers to create or expand the use of technology to improve cancer outcomes.

    July 18, 2024
    Nurse-Led Innovations Are Shaping the Future of Oncology Care
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Nurse-Led Innovations Are Shaping the Future of Oncology Care

    Innovation—a proactive effort to create or build on ideas—is something that oncology nurses and advanced practice providers (APPs) do every day. This month’s 49th Annual ONS Congress® reminds us to “ignite the extraordinary” and recognize how we can use our strengths to blaze new trails for oncology and health care. Step by step, we all have opportunities to innovate in oncology nursing through evidence-based practice, quality improvement, the development of new products and technology, and research.

    April 16, 2024
    Oncology APPs Hold Key Roles in Community-Based Clinical Research
    Cancer Research

    Oncology APPs Hold Key Roles in Community-Based Clinical Research

    Nearly 65% of oncology advanced practice providers (APPs) say they want to have a larger role in clinical research. Although research has often been a part of the APP role in academic institutions, providers now have the potential to engage in its expansion into community practice settings. Here are some of the key contributions APPs can bring to community-based clinical research. 

    December 14, 2023
    Here’s How Oncology APPs Can Move Cardio-Oncology Care Upstream
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Here’s How Oncology APPs Can Move Cardio-Oncology Care Upstream

    More than two-thirds of cancer survivors are aged 65 or older, which is often when the general risk for heart disease increases. Some cancer drugs increase patients’ risk for cardiovascular (CV) adverse events, such as arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia, hypertension, myocarditis, heart failure, and other cardiac complications. Here’s how oncology advanced practice providers (APPs) can assess for risk factors, implement prevention strategies (see sidebar), and improve the complex, coordinated care of patients receiving cardiotoxic drugs throughout the cancer continuum. 

    October 12, 2023
    An Oncology Provider’s Guide to Patient Use of Medical Cannabis During Cancer Care
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    An Oncology Provider’s Guide to Patient Use of Medical Cannabis During Cancer Care

    August 10, 2023
    Oncology APRNs’ Role in Communicating With Older Adults With Cancer
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Oncology APRNs’ Role in Communicating With Older Adults With Cancer

    Prepare for the silver tsunami—experts predict that the number of older adults with cancer, those aged 65 and older, will double by 2035. Oncology APRNs have a pivotal role in their care, understanding patients’ values and preferences to facilitate informed decision-making. But communication can be difficult when patients have comorbid geriatric syndromes such as cognitive deficits, delirium, and depression.

    June 15, 2023
    Delivering Holistic Cancer Care Requires Oncology Providers to Weave Spirituality in Their Practice
    Specific Populations

    Delivering Holistic Cancer Care Requires Oncology Providers to Weave Spirituality in Their Practice

    Spiritual care is an essential component of cancer care. Representing an individual’s “sense of peace, purpose, and connection to others and beliefs about the meaning of life, spirituality is not synonymous with religion, which is “a set of beliefs and practices that center on questions about the meaning of life and may involve the worship of a supreme being.” Several healthcare organizations such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, and the Joint Commission recommend including spiritual care in cancer care guidelines.

    April 13, 2023
    Oncology Providers Can Transform the Trajectory of Financial Toxicity
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Oncology Providers Can Transform the Trajectory of Financial Toxicity

    The complexity of cancer care may affect patients’ financial toxicity more than we’ve realized. Many patients struggle with the economic burden of out-of-pocket spending for cancer care, including insurance copayments, transportation, and reduced income, as well as their psychological burden of worry and coping with less funds for food and medications. Multimodality treatments, maintenance and ongoing therapies for metastatic disease, and geographic factors such as travel for clinical trials and specialized services or paying for out-of-network care can put patients’ finances in a deeper hole. The adverse implications are significant: decreased quality of life, increased anxiety and depression, lower adherence to prescribed medications and oncology care, and reduced survival.

    February 09, 2023
    Oncology APRNs Are Change Agents for Tobacco Cessation
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Oncology APRNs Are Change Agents for Tobacco Cessation

    Whether by cigarette, pipe, cigar, or vaping device, tobacco use is a major risk factor for the development of many cancers; increases cancer mortality, risk of recurrence, and second primary cancers; adversely affects treatment outcomes for surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy; and affects other chronic health conditions. Initiating smoking cessation at the time of a lung cancer diagnosis improves overall survival by 30%–40%, yet 40%–50% of smokers continue to use tobacco after diagnosis.

    December 27, 2022
    New Technology Tools Help Oncology APRNs Improve Patient Outcomes
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    New Technology Tools Help Oncology APRNs Improve Patient Outcomes

    Clinical decision support systems are tools integrated into electronic health records that include reminders for preventive care, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, order sets, and alerts for drug prescribing. In health care, artificial intelligence converts data into knowledge to guide clinical decisions. When combined, the two technologies can guide advanced practice RNs and other providers with predictions and suggestions that go beyond human accuracy and specificity.

    August 11, 2022
    Oncology Care Model Created New Opportunities for APRNs to Transform Cancer Care
    Care Coordination

    Oncology Care Model Created New Opportunities for APRNs to Transform Cancer Care

    Launched in 2016 as a pilot program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center to develop new payment and delivery system models, the Oncology Care Model had a lofty goal: drive improvements in providing high-quality and cost-effective care.

    July 14, 2022
    APRN Roles Evolve to Address Cancer Screening, Treatment Adherence, and Public Health
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    APRN Roles Evolve to Address Cancer Screening, Treatment Adherence, and Public Health

    Responses to pandemic-related screening and treatment delays have created new opportunities for oncology advanced practice RNs (APRNs), too. In both their institutions and communities, APRNs are guiding patients and providers to reverse the increases in late cancer diagnoses, morbidity, and mortality—ultimately improving outcomes.

    April 14, 2022
    Boards and Committees Need Oncology APRN Voices. Will You Step Up to the Challenge?
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Boards and Committees Need Oncology APRN Voices. Will You Step Up to the Challenge?

    In response to the 2010 Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, the Nurses on Boards Coalition launched an initiative to increase the number of nurses in decision-making leadership capacities with a goal to place 10,000 nurses on corporate, health-related, and other panels, boards, and commissions. Yet today, we still have more work to do to advance nurses into those positions and to educate the public about nurses’ role in providing high-quality, safe patient care.

    February 17, 2022
    APRNs Can Lead by Example When Integrating Palliative Care in Practice
    Palliative Care

    APRNs Can Lead by Example When Integrating Palliative Care in Practice

    Early and regular integration of palliative care (PC) improves patient and caregiver outcomes in symptom management, quality of life, psychosocial health, communication, shared decision-making, overall satisfaction—and even survival. Health systems also benefit through reduced emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and intensive care stays; increased completion of advanced directives; and improved quality of end-of-life care. Both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) Oncology Care Model and many oncology organizations, including ONS, support the approach for patients with cancer.

    November 11, 2021
    Interprofessional Collaboration Helps Improve Cancer Care
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Interprofessional Collaboration Helps Improve Cancer Care

    Much of the care we provide is complex and requires the contributions of many knowledgeable and experienced professionals. To satisfy the National Academy of Medicine recommendations of providing safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care, healthcare professionals must function as highly collaborative teams.

    October 14, 2021
    APRN Leaders Mentor Students to Tackle Clinical Practice Issues
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    APRN Leaders Mentor Students to Tackle Clinical Practice Issues

    Nursing is among the top careers for job growth, with an estimated 7% increase in the nursing workforce by 2029. As new students train to enter or advance in the profession, advanced practice RNs (APRNs) must mentor and empower them to integrate evidence-based practice (EBP) into their care.

    August 12, 2021
    APRNs Are Essential in Survivorship Programs
    Survivorship Care Plans

    APRNs Are Essential in Survivorship Programs

    As the number of cancer survivors continues to grow in the United States, so too does the need for cancer survivorship programs. Oncology advanced practice RNs (APRNs) are essential team members as institutions develop and deliver comprehensive and holistic programs to meet survivors’ needs.

    June 10, 2021
    Onboarding and Supporting New Providers Are Your Responsibilities as an APRN Leader
    Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN)

    Onboarding and Supporting New Providers Are Your Responsibilities as an APRN Leader

    Contributing to the orientation and onboarding of new advanced practice RN (APRN) providers supports optimal patient outcomes, professional satisfaction, and nurse retention. Orientation involves working through the hospital’s training program, policies and procedures, organizational structures, and mission or vision statements, whereas onboarding builds engagement and relationships in the organization over many weeks to months. Some institutions have formalized, detailed processes for orientation and onboarding, but others may offer very little structure and support.

    April 15, 2021

    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.

    content['#byline_profile'].image_alt_text
    Jan Tipton DNP, APRN-CNS, AOCN®

    ONS member Jan Tipton, DNP, APRN-CNS, AOCN®, is a clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN.
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