The ONS Podcast

"Evidence-based practice is asking the right clinical question, searching the evidence and then really appraising and determining what is the quality of the evidence, and synthesizing it to move forward with a recommendation or a possible implementation plan," Caroline Clark, MSN, APRN, OCN®, AG-CNS, director of evidence-based practice and inquiry at ONS, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGNCS-BC, AOCN...

"It's the oncology nurse who might be the only cheerleader this person has to keep them motivated moving forward. We need to make sure our patients' motivation and competence stay high so that they can stay on this journey of quitting," ONS member Maureen O'Brien, MS, RN, PMHCNS, NCTTP, a certified tobacco treatment specialist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, told Jai...

"I love the motto, 'If you see a problem, you can solve a problem.' So, no matter what level you fall on on the clinical ladder or within your administration, you always have the opportunity to promote and create positive change and do that with the leadership support," ONS member Klara Culmone, MSN, RN, OCN®, assistant nurse manager at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone H...

"The way I approach patient education conversations is to discuss it, address it, but not to emphasize it. I really like to focus on what the drug is. I mention if it's a biosimilar, I explain it, I give resources if they want it, but I really try to focus on the things that they're going to need to know in order to help be part of their care, but have readily available information to give them if...

"When I draw the interprofessional team for the management of cardio-oncology patients, I always place nurses in the center of it, besides the patient, because nurses are the eyes and ears of interprofessional care 24 hours a day," ONS member Anecita Fadol, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, FHKAN, associate professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told Jaime Weimer, MSN,...

"Cultural competence is about being able to deliver care while respecting and valuing the differences people bring with them to the table. Did we consider their uniqueness? Have we done our best to care for them in a way that's individualized?" Erica Fischer-Cartlidge, DNP, RN, AOCNS®, EBP-CH, chief clinical officer at ONS, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist...

"It's incumbent on us as nurses to stay informed about these newly approved drugs or new indications in drugs because we're the front line in helping these patients manage adverse events," Teresa Knoop, MSN, RN, AOCN®, nurse consultant in Nashville, TN, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about the latest updates and approvals in...

"It's important for all nurses to advocate—for themselves, for their practice, for their profession, for their patients. Without the nursing community advocating for itself, no other entity will. It is the nurses' responsibility to be their own advocate," Alec Stone, MA, MPA, ONS director of government affairs, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, duri...

"When we are able to connect with the things that give us meaning in our life, it makes us stronger, it makes us happier, it makes our life more fulfilled," Caroline Peacock, ACPE certified educator, LCSW, Episcopal priest, and director of spiritual health and community care at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, GA, said in a conversation with Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS...

What is it like to guide a professional association that serves more than 100,000 oncology nurses? ONS Directors-at-Large Deborah "Hutch" Allen, PhD, RN, CNS, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, Kris Mathey, MS, APRN-CNP, AOCNP®, and Jeanene "Gigi" Robison, MSN, APRN, AOCN®, reflect on how their varied nursing backgrounds and ONS experiences help the ONS Board to support a diverse membership during a conversation wit...

"Genomics is part and parcel of oncology treatment today. Even if a patient's genomics might not affect the current choice of therapy, it may do so in the future. The use of genomics and biomarkers is just an evidence-based expansion and extension of our previous care," ONS member Kristin Daly, MSN, ANP-BC, AOCNP®, nurse practitioner at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO...

"These policies, procedures, order sets, and algorithms for oncologic emergencies are so important. They give you knowledge in your back pocket: This is the way we're going to treat this, this is the way to quickly respond to this, and this is the way to treat this in the safest way possible," ONS member Cassie Durand, MS, RN, CNS, AGCNS-BC, OCN®, clinical nurse specialist at Memorial Sloan-Ketter...

"Acknowledge that grief is a reoccurring theme. This isn't something that's a one and done. This is a process that you're going to continue to revisit, and in recognizing that, I think this allows us to be more proactive and responsive to this emotional part of our job," ONS member Carla Jolley, MN, ARNP, ANP-BC, AOCN®, ACHPN, palliative care advanced practice nurse and coordinator for the palliat...

"Effective communication with healthcare providers, making informed decisions about their care, and gaining strength through connections to others" are the key aspects of patient self-advocacy, ONS member Teresa Thomas, PhD, RN, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in Pennsylvania, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, i...

"Once patients come out on the other side, nursing care involves understanding how to triage their disease: If they call you with concerns, how would you address those concerns? How would you find out if there's something going on? Just given how acute the onset is, a lot of these patients have some post-traumatic stress disorder, so there's a lot of worried-well conversations, and in outpatients...

"Participating in formal academic degree programs, obtaining contact hours for renewing your certification, peer-to-peer sharing with colleagues—they're all types of education that you can use to be the best version of the oncology nurse that you want to be for our patients," Danya Garner, PhD, RN, OCN®, CCRN-K, NPD-BC, ONS director-at-large from 2021–2024 and associate director of continuing prof...

"For those without cancer or other illnesses, we often have a resolution or relief of this fatigue. 'Oh, I'm just going to go to bed early and get a couple more hours of sleep tonight.' Or 'I'm going to have a cup of coffee.' But for people with cancer, it's not an easy fix. People with cancer describe fatigue as something much more long-lasting," ONS member Paula Anastasia, MN, RN, AOCN®, clinica...

"Work culture is really how people work together. But in my opinion, there are three major components: it's the employer, it's the leadership, and it's the staff—all staff, we're not only talking nurses. We know that it takes a village to really make clinical care happen. All three of those components are critical in creating a healthy work environment. The staff component, including the clinical...

"A lot of healthcare workers that I talk to say that they are kind of brought up with the culture that violence is part of the job. It's not your job to take abuse," Chris Snyder, University of Utah Health security manager for the University of Utah Department of Public Safety in Salt Lake City, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS. Snyder gave an overvie...

"Oftentimes, local policy changes are the ones that are going to influence your day-to-day practice most directly—and are the ones where your voice has the most power because you're closer to the decision makers. There are so many ways for nurses to become involved in advocacy, and it can be simple things just like voting or being knowledgeable on the issues," Erica Fischer-Cartlidge, DNP, RN, AOC...

"Consider your patient's diagnosis. What kind of cancer do they have? And ask yourself, 'Could this patient be in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)? Is there something more that we should be doing or looking at?'" Leslie Smith, RN, APRN-CNS, DNP, BMTCN®, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS...

"We found that nurses still needed clarity of terminology and the rationale for germline, somatic, and homologous recombination deficiency testing," ONS member Paula Anastasia, MN, RN, AOCN®, clinical nurse specialist for UCLA Health in Los Angeles, CA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS. Anastasia discussed the findings of a July 2022 ONS focus group...

"Nurses can bridge the information gap and help patients better understand that the information received from next-generation sequencing (NGS) can really help to determine which treatment they will respond best to, if there are therapies that won't be effective, or if there are clinical trials that are open to them based on the results," Danielle Fournier, RN, MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, AOCNP®, CORLN,...

"Really knowing these steps can save our own nursing time and save our patient's skin from all the dressing removals. If we're not doing these dressings as much, we're all going to be happier," MiKaela Olsen, DNP, APRN-CNS, AOCNS®, FAAN, clinical program director in oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore, MD, told Stephanie Jardine, BSN, RN, oncology cl...

What is it like to guide a professional association that serves more than 100,000 oncology nurses? ONS Chief Executive Officer Brenda Nevidjon, MSN, RN, FAAN, and Directors-at-Large Patricia (Patty) Geddie, PhD, APRN, AOCNS®, FCNS, and Danya Garner, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, OCN®, CCRN-K, reflect on their experiences with ONS, how a diverse Board supports a diverse membership, and how you can get involved...