Organizations Define Care Coordination and Transition Management Nursing Roles

Each year, the ONS Board of Directors sponsors a session at the ONS Annual Congress on a particularly important, high-impact topic. During a session at the 42nd Annual Congress in Denver, CO, the leadership chose the up-and-coming nursing role of care coordination and transition management.

July 01, 2017

Survivorship care plans

How Do You Use Free Online Tools to Create Survivorship Care Plans?

Journey Forward, a free online survivorship tool, allows oncology professionals to create personalized treatment plans, treatment summaries, and care plans that can be printed out and shared with patients and their primary care providers.

May 02, 2017

Safety

Competencies Create Expert, Accountable Nurses Delivering Quality Care

When the National Academy of Medicine, formerly the Institute of Medicine, released its 2010 report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, it cited a need for improvement in nursing education and practice through the implementation of nursing competencies.

April 03, 2017

Research

The Evolving Role of Oncology Nurse Navigators

Care coordination is an integral component of every oncology nurse’s job, but the specific role of oncology nurse navigator (ONN) was developed to help address certain barriers to care, including difficulty navigating the healthcare system, poor communication, and lack of resources.

January 28, 2017

Genetics & genomics

How Do You Bridge Oncology Nurses and Genetic Counselors?

Assessing a patient’s risk for cancer is an exciting area for collaboration between oncology nurses and genetic counselors. Oncology nurses have a very specialized skill set, and genetic counselors can complement it.

November 01, 2016

Clinical practice

Embracing Quality Manager Roles

Florence Nightingale, a forerunner of evidence-based practice, linked sanitation to morbidity and mortality rates. Her initiatives, such as simple hand washing, remain standards today. The attention and implementation of quality standards have helped change and shape the way our healthcare system grows to keep patients safe.

October 06, 2016

Clinical practice

How Do I Become an Oncology Nurse?

One of the most common questions we receive in the ONS’s clinical email box is from people who want to know how to become an oncology nurse. Although each nurse’s career path is different, here are some frequent ways nurses enter our specialty.

July 18, 2016

Chemotherapy

Verification Nurses Identify Chemotherapy Order Errors and Improve Patient Safety

In 1995 when a patient died from a chemotherapy overdose at a major medical center, many cancer centers began reexamining their processes for safe chemotherapy administration and putting measures in place to reduce errors.

May 10, 2016

Oncology nurse pride

Saluting Nurse Educators

ONS looks to nurse educators and thanks them for the great service they provide members and nurses around the world. ONS facilitators teach courses that provide incredible learning opportunities to oncology nurses looking to raise the level of care they provide to patients with cancer.

May 02, 2016

Clinical practice

Outpatient Staffing Model Improves RN Roles and Functionalities

Nursing responsibilities vary across different oncology infusion centers in the United States. A standard staffing model to provide efficiency of clinical services and patient safety currently does not exist, and the variability of roles can lead to unnecessary costs to the healthcare system. A recent study sought to define the roles of infusion nurses to create efficiencies within the clinical setting, potentially reduce RN staffing requirements, achieve cost savings, and develop a targeted nurse-to-patient ratio that also maintains quality care.

April 25, 2016

Oncology nursing roles

The Significance of Being an Oncology Nurse

I recently read the book Service Fanatics by Jame Merlino, MD, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Cleveland Clinic. Merlino’s role focuses on “putting patients at the center of everything we do.” This concept isn’t new to oncology nurses. I daresay the people we care for are always our focus. Their vulnerability reminds us of our own, and we feel it's a privilege to be part of their journey.

April 20, 2016