The July issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) is packed with indispensable news and insights for today’s oncology nurse. We start off our coverage by profiling The University of Arizona Cancer Center, as we speak with Sandra Kurtin, PhDc, RN, MS, AOCN, ANP-C, a nurse practitioner who specializes in treating patients with hematologic malignancies. In an interview with TON, Ms Kurtin discusses her role within The University of Arizona Cancer Center’s multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment, and important therapeutic advances that are leading to improved outcomes in patients with hematologic malignancies (view here).
Issues related to cancer survivors come into focus in this issue of TON. First we examine the lack of survivorship care education provided to nurse practitioners highlighted by Margaret Rosenzweig, PhD, CRNP-C, AOCN, FAAN, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh. At the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Survivorship Symposium, Dr Rosenzweig discusses a web-based training program she and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh developed to fill the educational gaps and help train new nurse practitioners about cancer care and issues related to survivorship (view here).
The need for cancer survivors to remain productive and in the workplace is also investigated in this issue, as Cathy J. Bradley, PhD, MPA, University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses the barriers that these individuals face as they seek to reenter the workforce.
“If survivors want to get back into the workforce, the workforce needs to meet them somewhere in the middle, with accommodations that help them stay attached to their job, especially during long treatment regimens,” Dr Bradley noted (view here).
This issue of TON has a series of articles highlighting important presentations from the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 2018 Congress. Talking about sex is not quite the taboo it used to be but, in the world of oncology, concerns about sex and sexual dysfunction seems to be a back-burner issue. Here, we discuss the cancer-related causes of sexual dysfunction in men and women and the treatment options available (view here).
With the opioid crisis front and center as a public health issue, our coverage from the ONS Congress provides a strategy to deal with the topic of opioid abuse and pain treatment among patients with cancer. Tonya Edwards, MS, MSN, FNP-C, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, outlines an interventional program used by the institution’s Supportive Care Center to help clinicians deal with the issue of opioid abuse and identify patients who may be at highest risk for misuse (view here).
We wrap up our coverage of the ONS Congress by addressing how healthcare providers can be traumatized by unanticipated adverse events affecting their patients during the course of treatment. Susan D. Scott, PhD, RN, University of Missouri Health Care, describes the results of a qualitative research study on the second victim phenomenon and her institution’s framework for providing peer-to-peer support in the wake of these traumatic experiences.
“We had to break that habit, that veil of secrecy we have in healthcare. When something bad happened, we really did not talk about it. We designed the forYOU Team to promote healing from the perspective of clinicians, so they do not have to suffer in silence,” Dr Scott said (view here).
As always, we hope you will enjoy this issue of TON and look forward to receiving your feedback. You can contact us via e-mail at info@TheOncologyNurse.com.
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