ISNCC Seeks to Be Voice of Oncology Nursing Around the World

Nurses from around the world met in Atlanta, Georgia, in March to attend the 16th International Conference on Cancer Nursing, cosponsored by the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) and the National Headquarters and South Atlantic Division of the American Cancer Society. The theme of the conference was Enhancing Knowledge, Promoting Quality.

The Oncology Nurse spoke with Prof. Sancha Aranda of the University of Melbourne, president of ISNCC, about the goals of the organization and what oncology nurses can gain by involvement in international organizations as well as their own national associations.

What is the membership of ISNCC?
ISNCC is an international federation of national and regional cancer nursing societies. About 22 national cancer nursing societies are members of ISNCC, and we have links to other nursing organizations. There are also individual members and associate members, such as cancer hospitals. Currently, we represent about 60,000 cancer nurses around the world, but with our links, the numbers are probably considerably higher.

What are the goals of ISNCC?
One of our key missions is to be the voice of cancer nursing around the world. The other is supporting the development of cancer nursing in places where it is underdeveloped.

In the international arena, we work with many other health organizations, including the International Council of Nurses, the World Health Organization, and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). Our job is to bring the voice of nurses into those organizations' agendas, which is not a small task. The UICC, for instance, has a World Cancer Declaration, which includes about 15 target areas to address the coming cancer pandemic. The aim is to reduce cancer incidence and deaths. There has been little nursing engagement in this effort, yet many actions will need to involve nurses. We aim to get nurses at the table in some of these plans.

In our work with nurses in developing countries, one challenge is that many countries don't recognize cancer as a health problem or cancer nursing as a specialist field. In some parts of the world, there are very few cancer specialists, whether doctors or nurses. It is difficult to develop expertise or build a knowledge base under those circumstances, but we are working with individuals in these countries to do that.

Given the differences in practice and available treatments, what can nurses from developed and developing countries learn from each other?
Meetings such as this expose nurses from developed countries to a wider picture of the cancer problem worldwide. From my own contact with Australian nurses, I think they begin to realize that their own practices have certain privileges. Also, often these meetings interest them in prevention, early detection, and palliative care, which they may not be exposed to in their own practices. For nurses from less developed countries, these meetings provide access to educational materials and updates that they may not have access to in their own countries.

I am always struck to see the innovation that comes from poverty. One of the things that has always inspired me in developing countries is how people manage to do something with very little. A good example is the rollout of visual inspection for early detection of cervical cancer, which can be done without pathology labs or specific expertise and is pretty much as effective as standard screening. Nurses are at the forefront of the visual inspection rollout in developing countries.