You have probably heard that there are changes to the ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Biotherapy Certificate Course as of this winter. It can be hard to keep up your nursing licenses and certifications, let alone any changes to the processes, so hopefully this post can help simplify the changes.

The ONS Connect editor ensures that the journal’s content supports the news magazine’s mission and is appropriate and appealing to members at all practice levels. He or she selects and works with contributing editors, leads editorial board meetings, and conducts publication programs and activities.

In student nursing forums, I’ve read questions like, “I just graduated and am looking for a job in oncology. Any suggestions?” On the hospital and cancer center job boards, the requirements for nursing positions in oncology are often lengthy and technical. Almost all of them start with “Minimum experience required: one to three years of hospital experience.

You asked, and we lis­tened. Although it’s cru­cial to your day-to-day work as an oncol­ogy nurse, you’ve told us that the vast amount of con­tent cov­ered in the ONS Chemother­apy and Bio­ther­apy course is dif­fi­cult to absorb over the two-day, 16-hour in-person time­frame. To bet­ter meet your needs, ONS is replac­ing the two-day, face-to-face chemother­apy course with an inter­ac­tive, com­pre­hen­sive, online course that will offer a cer­tifi­cate indi­cat­ing the learner pos­sesses spe­cific spe­cialty knowl­edge (from ONCC) and a con­tin­u­ing nurs­ing edu­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate and provider card (from ONS).

During a recent ONS Board of Directors meeting, we learned that ONS’s virtual communities (VCs) have been updated with new links that yield better information, faster. For a closer view, go to the ONS website’s membership tab and check the lower right-hand corner. You’ll find links to the SIGs, Leadership, and Chapters VCs.

The changing economic climate and generational desires have impacted nursing organizations that have traditionally been strong advocates to educate nurses and improve patient care.

From M*A*S*H to ER, House to Nurse Jackie and more, television has represented nurses in varying degrees.

When Patri­cia Kelly, DNP, APRN, CNS, AOCN®, research/​evidence-​​based prac­tice facil­i­ta­tor and genomics con­sul­tant at Texas Health Pres­by­ter­ian Hos­pi­tal Dal­las, pre­sented a genet­ics ses­sion.

In 2011, a work­group con­sist­ing of Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Clin­i­cal Oncol­ogy (ASCO) and ONS mem­bers was con­vened to review feed­back received since pub­li­ca­tion of the ASCO/​​ONS Stan­dards for Safe Chemother­apy Admin­is­tra­tion in 2009 and to clar­ify the stan­dards as needed. The most sig­nif­i­cant change is the deci­sion to extend their scope to the inpa­tient set­ting. This

I have a job that doesn’t feel like a job at all . . . but don’t tell my boss. I consult members of the Midwest Cancer Alliance while they establish and enhance patient navigation systems. A large part of the role involves coaching and connecting clinicians with resources.