The big picture about cancer is slightly encouraging. The survival rates for all types of cancer in the United States were at an all-time high between 2003 and 2007 (the most recent reporting period), according to the National Cancer Institute.
Cancer survivors owe their lives to better prevention, ongoing research, new technologies and medications, as well as to the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who specialize in oncology.
Oncology nursing has grown significantly since the 1950s, when surgery was usually the only recourse for cancer patients. As treatments became increasingly complex in the 1970s, nurses began to collaborate with doctors to provide the most comprehensive care.
In 1979, the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) began to set standards for oncology nursing practice and established certification for oncology nurses in 1985. Today, the ONS has more than 35,000 members who work in hospitals, infusion centers, clinics, radiation departments, research and in hospice and palliative care settings.
This month, I talked to three oncology nurses at Northside Hospital and asked them about their demanding and sometimes emotionally draining work. I learned that oncology nurses aren’t really concerned with big-picture statistics; they’re too busy fighting cancer — one patient and one treatment at a time.
It takes education and specialized skills to fight that battle. When Cyndi Mason applied for her first radiation oncology nursing job, the requirements called for two years of hospital experience. She only had one.
“I convinced the manager how much I loved this type of nursing and she hired me, but I had a lot of learning to do in the first year,” said Mason, RN, health systems clinical supervisor of radiation oncology for Northside Hospital. “Fortunately, a physician took me under his wing. I didn’t realize how technologically advanced this type of nursing was.”
Northside’s four cancer centers are part of the National Cancer Institute’s network of select centers that offer expanded research and state-of-the-art care. While Mason knows that research could change patient outcomes in the future, her focus is on caring for those who are suffering today.
“The quality an oncology nurse needs most is compassion, because she can make such a difference in a patient’s life,” Mason said.
When it comes to cancer, I think most of us can agree with Charlyn Lathem, BSN, RN, staff nurse at the outpatient infusion center at Northside Hospital. “I love my job,” she said, “but it’s the first job I wouldn’t mind being laid off from due to lack of business.”
Stop childhood cancer
You don’t have to be a nurse to join the battle against cancer. Each year, more than 10,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. The Stop Childhood Cancer Alliance wants to help change that in September.
As part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the alliance is asking for donations and volunteers to help the 13 organizations that form the group and serve Georgia’s youngest cancer patients. For information, go to www.stopchildhoodcancer.org.
Contact us
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