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    When the Provider Becomes the Patient: What I Learned From COVID-19
    COVID-19
    When the Provider Becomes the Patient: What I Learned From COVID-19
    June 24, 2022
    The Case of the Late Head and Neck Lymphedema
    Clinical practice
    The Case of the Late Head and Neck Lymphedema
    June 20, 2022
    Our Patients Give Us Peace in Unexpected Circumstances
    Oncology nurse pride
    Our Patients Give Us Peace in Unexpected Circumstances
    June 17, 2022
    Behind Our Masks, I See You, I Hear You
    COVID-19
    Behind Our Masks, I See You, I Hear You
    June 10, 2022
    Connect With Your Patients on a Human Level as Well as a Healthcare Level
    Oncology nurse-patient relationship
    Connect With Your Patients on a Human Level as Well as a Healthcare Level
    June 03, 2022
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    Ethics in nursing

    Support Patients’ Autonomy and Cultural Choices
    Ethics in nursing

    Support Patients’ Autonomy and Cultural Choices

    You are the oncology nurse caring for Maria, who has been diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). She says she doesn’t understand how she developed lung cancer because she has always lived a clean lifestyle according to her religious practices. You notice that although Maria is initially conversant with you, she allows her husband to speak for her whenever he is present. When you mention your observation to Maria, she tells you that in her religious culture, medical decisions are deferred to the high elders of the church.

    June 28, 2022
    Advocate for Equal Access for Next Generation Sequencing and Clinical Trials
    Ethics in nursing

    Advocate for Equal Access for Next Generation Sequencing and Clinical Trials

    Janice is an oncology nurse in a rural community cancer center. Only one of the three oncologists in the practice discusses clinical trials with their patients and typically not until after patients complete two to three lines of therapy. Also, the practice does not have a process for when to order next generation sequencing (NGS). Janice feels it is not ethical that the patients coming to the clinic do not have equal access to those important services.

    March 21, 2022
    Gallup Poll Ranks Nurses Most Honest and Ethical Profession for 20th Consecutive Year
    Ethics in nursing

    Gallup Poll Ranks Nurses Most Honest and Ethical Profession for 20th Consecutive Year

    Nurses and other healthcare professionals persevered through 2021 and its obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, staff shortages, and increasing rates of burnout, and their selflessness, drive, and honesty have not gone unnoticed by the American public, according to Gallup’s annual Most Honest and Ethical Professions Poll. In results released in January 2022, Americans ranked nurses as the most honest professionals for the 20th consecutive year on a list that also included physicians, grade-school teachers, pharmacists, and other professions.

    January 24, 2022
    ONS Congress

    As Oncology Research Pivots in Pandemic, Here’s How to Maintain Consent and Ethics

    As health care has made countless adaptations to forge on during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, oncology nurse researchers haven’t escaped the effects. During a session on April 27, 2021, for the 46th Annual ONS Congress™, Kathleen Calzone, PhD, RN, AGN-BC, FAAN, and Donna Berry, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN, outlined specific ways researchers have pivoted with virtual approaches to continue their important work.

    April 27, 2021
    ONS Congress

    Nurses Have an Ethical Responsibility to Speak Up and Advocate for Patients

    “Ethical issues and dilemmas are inherent in the care we provide to our patients and their families across the life span,” Joyce Neumann, PhD, APRN, AOCN®, BMTCN®, FAAN, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said during a session on April 22, 2021, for the 46th Annual ONS Congress™. “We have a responsibility to speak up and speak out individually, through our professional organizations like ONS and the American Nurses Association (ANA), and internationally, when possible, to advocate to resolve ethical issues.”

    April 22, 2021
    Nurses Break Record as Most Trusted Profession for 19 Years Running
    Oncology nursing community

    Nurses Break Record as Most Trusted Profession for 19 Years Running

    The World Health Organization’s Year of the Nurse didn’t go as planned in 2020. Instead, Americans were forced to navigate unprecedented stressors, but among the conflict, fear, and uncertainty, nursing remained the most trusted profession in the United States, earning a record-breaking 89% score on the 2020 Gallup Honesty and Ethics poll, four percentage points greater than the profession’s 2019 rating. Trust has to be earned, and not only have nurses done so, but they continue to foster and grow trust for in an unparalleled way. 

    January 15, 2021
    Bedside Nurses Bring Value to Ethical Consults
    Ethics in nursing

    Bedside Nurses Bring Value to Ethical Consults

    Oncology nursing is a complex world that continues to evolve rapidly. However, one challenge that remains consistent is the ethical dilemmas nurses face when caring for patients with cancer. Complex care needs and lengthy hospital stays are common in our patient population and allow opportunity for nurses to develop relationships with patients and their families. Over the course of treatment, various ethical issues may arise, which nurses are at the forefront of identifying and acting on.

    August 14, 2020
    Palliative Care Resources Comfort Nurses Through COVID-19 Stress, Dilemmas, and Grief
    COVID-19

    Palliative Care Resources Comfort Nurses Through COVID-19 Stress, Dilemmas, and Grief

    The concept of providing comfort is at the core of my identity as a nurse, and I have always been drawn to the palliative care component of what we do as oncology nurses. Because it wasn’t part of my roles, I was less confident in my knowledge and understanding of chemotherapy administration, but I often thought, “Palliative care, yeah, I’ve got this!”

    And then I learned how little I knew.

    April 11, 2020
    The First Time I Gave a Patient My Contact Information
    Oncology nurse-patient relationship

    The First Time I Gave a Patient My Contact Information

    In nursing school I was always taught to maintain professional boundaries with patients, including never sharing any personal information like my address or contact information. No matter how many times faculty members said it, we never role played scenarios with that situation. I was unprepared for the moment, six months into my nursing career, when a kind, gentle, nonthreatening woman asked me for my address so she could send me a Christmas card.

    March 06, 2020
    Nurses Most Trusted Profession for 18 Years in Row
    Oncology nursing community

    Nurses Most Trusted Profession for 18 Years in Row

    More than engineers, accountants, professors, or police officers, nurses lead the pack when it comes to honesty and ethics, according to 2019 Gallup polling data. For 18 years in a row, nurses have been recognized as the most trusted profession in the United States—by a considerable margin, too. Ratings for nursing honesty and ethics outpaced every other profession by a wide margin, and nurses lead the next most trusted profession—engineers—by nearly 20 percentage points.

    January 31, 2020
    Cope With Moral Distress by Focusing on the Possibilities
    Nurse well-being

    Cope With Moral Distress by Focusing on the Possibilities

    Ethical dilemmas arise more often than we realize: consider the patient you have been taking care of for three days telling you he wants no further treatment, but later goes along with family members when they push for more treatment. Moral distress occurs when nurses believe they know the correct action to take but are prevented from doing so. It may lead to a decrease in the quality of patient care and can be a causative factor when nurses leave their current job and sometimes even the profession.

    November 26, 2019
    Access to Care and Nondiscrimination Are Two Key Ways to Address Cancer Disparities, According to ONS and ANA Position Statements
    Cancer health disparities

    Access to Care and Nondiscrimination Are Two Key Ways to Address Cancer Disparities, According to ONS and ANA Position Statements

    Cancer knows no race, color, nationality, or ethnicity. But although any person may one day develop cancer, incidence and mortality rates for some cancers are disproportionately higher in certain racial, ethnic, geographic, or socioeconomic groups. Here are just a few of the many identified cancer disparities, according to the National Cancer Institute.

    June 27, 2019
    U.S. Rep Cummings Introduces Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act
    Health Policy

    U.S. Rep Cummings Introduces Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act

    After recent a best-selling book-turned-movie detailed her story, Henrietta Lacks’ extraordinary impact on cancer research continues to become common knowledge to more people. However, many more are still unaware of how her story, struggle with cancer, and tumor cells changed the face of cancer care. For that reason, Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD), along with a congressional delegation from both chambers, introduced legislation to both honor her role in history and improve access to medical research to traditionally underrepresented groups.

    May 17, 2019
    The Case of the Coercive Consent
    Clinical practice

    The Case of the Coercive Consent

    Betty, age 70, was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer and started treatment with FOLFOX. Her medical oncologist changed the treatment to capcitabine after Betty developed grade 3 peripheral neuropathy. Because of disease progression, bevacizumab was added to her treatment plan. She lives with her daughter, is insured by Medicare, and receives $800 per month from Social Security.

    July 17, 2018
    How to Have Ethical Discussions in Your Practice
    Ethics in nursing

    How to Have Ethical Discussions in Your Practice

    Having an outlet to consider, discuss, and reflect on oncology ethical issues that affect our daily practice is important in caring for each other in our profession. On our solid tumor oncology unit, monthly nursing ethics lunch and learns allow our nurses the opportunity to identify and discuss their concerns with recent patient cases involving ethical issues. Our hospital’s ethics committee chair facilitates the hour-long discussions held on the unit, along with a senior oncology nurse with significant training and background in clinical ethics.

    May 22, 2018
    The Case of the Blurred Boundaries
    Clinical practice

    The Case of the Blurred Boundaries

    Roxanne, a blood and marrow transplant certified nurse, has been taking care of Jerome, a 20-year-old man diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Jerome is the eldest of seven children; his mother works full-time, and with younger children at home has not been able to make the trip across country to be with her son.

    May 15, 2018
    Is Sexual Harassment of Nurses Prevalent in Health Care?
    Nurse empowerment

    Is Sexual Harassment of Nurses Prevalent in Health Care?

    The MeToo movement, an online campaign where women from all walks of life shared their stories of personal sexual assault and harassment, went viral in October 2017. The goal of their stories was to demonstrate the prevalence of sexual misconduct, especially in the workplace. Victims of sexual violence and harassment often go unnoticed and unheard, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that it affects approximately one third of women worldwide. In a 2017 poll of American women, 54% reported “unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances” and 95% said it goes unreported.

    March 07, 2018
    Equality
    Ethics in nursing

    Are All Patients Treated Equally?

    It’s 2017, and one would think that all patients are treated equally. Nursing has certainly been educated to treat all patients with the same levels of respect and dignity and to provide excellent medical care regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or religious beliefs. In the theory of nursing, I think we all strive and believe that patients should be treated equally. However, at least for the reality of nursing that I work in, that doesn’t always feel true.

    May 05, 2017
    Double Helix
    Genetics & genomics

    The Story of Henrietta Lacks Sheds Light on Ethical Considerations in Genetic Testing

    Imagine a situation where a patient’s tumor cells were used for countless scientific experiments—without the patient’s informed consent. Safeguards are in place today to prevent such an ethical breach, but in 1951 Henrietta Lacks and her family weren’t as lucky. Author Rebecca Skloot shared Henrietta’s story in a 2010 nonfiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, that was adapted into a movie released on April 22, 2017.

    April 28, 2017
    Clinical practice

    The Case of the Facebook Friend Request

    Ben is Oliver’s usual infusion room nurse; he and Oliver share a love of Pokemon Go and often roam the halls looking for particular Pokemon. Oliver’s mom, Claudia, is divorced, and Ben has mentioned that he is single as well. One evening, Ben receives a Facebook friend request from Claudia.
    October 18, 2016
    Clinical practice

    How Do You Bridge the Gap Between Ethical Dilemmas and Spirituality?

    The care of patients with cancer is fraught with ethical situations and dilemmas that begin with a patient’s initial diagnosis. Chaplains are often involved with patients with cancer and their families throughout their illness. This is especially true as their disease progresses and they must begin discussions on treatment options, withdrawal of treatment, and end-of-life care.
    September 06, 2016
    End of life (EOL)

    Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life

    Oncology nurses are often called on to act as mediators through difficult moments, advocating for their patients while connecting caregivers with the resources that will help them during a challenging time.
    September 06, 2016
    Advance care planning

    The Case of the Decision-Making Dilemma

    Daniel is a 55-year-old male diagnosed with stage III nasopharyngeal cancer. He lives with Jon, his partner of 4 years. One day, he is taken by ambulance to the ED where it is determined he had an ischemic stroke. He has no advanced directives or living relatives. What would you do?
    July 19, 2016
    Clinical practice

    Navigating Moral Distress in the Face of Ethical Dilemmas

    Do you remember that moment when you recited the Nightingale Pledge? Although antiquated in language, the modified Hippocratic Oath, written in 1893, still rings true in many ways today. I recall the weightiness of those words. As reiterated in the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (2015), nurses are expected to hold those values and ethical principles in the highest regard and should afford them to all people. This is quite a responsibility for even the most seasoned nurse. Moreover, oncology nurses are often faced with issues that test ethical and moral principles.
    April 26, 2016
    Ethics and futile oncology care
    Ethics in nursing

    Sort Through Ethical Dilemmas in Medically Futile Care

    A well-known and well-liked patient on the oncology unit, Ms. M, had been responding well to a treatment regimen for metastatic cancer but had a rare side effect from one of the chemotherapy drugs: progressive and paralyzing extremity weakness.
    June 02, 2014
    Ethics in nursing

    When Do You Stop Fighting?

    The war on cancer began in 1971 when Nixon signed the National Cancer Act. Since then, the war rages on. MD Anderson vows to make cancer history. Walking fundraisers urge people to join the fight, one step at a time. People who win the battle against cancer are survivors and those who don't—did they not fight hard enough?
    March 31, 2014
    Moral courage in oncology nursing
    Clinical practice

    Have the Moral Courage to Do the Right Thing

    Businessman W. Clement Stone opined, “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
    March 01, 2014
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