Cancer nursing: past, present, and future

Young and early career cancer nurses: sustaining the future of cancer nursing

Constance Rowell, Bethany Maynard and Jane Ewang, UK Oncology Nursing Society Young and Early Career Cancer Nurse Representatives.

A survey of nurses' experience integrating oncology clinical and academic worlds

Aim

To better understand how oncology nurses (a) navigate graduate studies; (b) perceive the impact of their academic work on their clinical practice, and vice versa; and (c) engage with clinical settings following graduate work.

Design

Interpretive descriptive cross‐sectional survey.

Methods

A qualitative exploratory web‐based survey exploring integration of graduate studies and clinical nursing practice.

Results

About 87 participants from seven countries responded. 71% were employed in clinical settings, 53% were enrolled in/graduated from Master's programs; 47% were enrolled in/graduated from doctoral programs. Participants had diverse motivations for pursuing graduate studies and improving clinical care. Participants reported graduate preparation increased their ability to provide quality care and conduct research. Lack of time and institutional structures were challenges to integrating clinical work and academic pursuits.

Conclusions

Given the many constraints and numerous benefits of nurses engaging in graduate work, structures and strategies to support hybrid roles should be explored.

Challenges Confronting the Practice of Nursing in Singapore

Singapore, a young nation like many developed countries, faced a shortage of nurses. Attempts to resolve the workforce shortage through the employment of foreign nurses started in the mid-1980s. Over the years, workforce recruitment from traditional sources nearby, namely Malaysia and Philippines, has expanded to include nurses from countries such as People Republic of China, India, and Myanmar. Attempts have also been made to train, recruit, and retain local nurses such as improving working conditions and remunerations, raising the profile of nursing, improving career recognition and progression, and encouraging nonpracticing nurses back to the workforce. However, the institutions' and the government's attempts to ameliorate the nursing shortage were met with limited success. Even with the recruitment of foreign nurses, the shortage of workforce persists. The shortage is compounded by the three major health-care challenges confronting Singapore: (1) rapid growth in population; (2) rapid aging of the population; and (3) increasing burden of chronic diseases. As the population continues to grow and as more of the population ages, as life expectancy increases and the burden of chronic diseases increases, not only will the demand for nurses continue, but the intensity and the nursing care they require will also increase. This article describes the challenges confronting the practice of nursing in Singapore and their implications. Although these challenges are daunting, they offer nursing the unprecedented opportunities to shape health-care delivery systems and increase nursing influences everywhere across settings and along the delivery continuum.

Oncology Nursing in Singapore: How It Evolved and What Does the Future Hold?

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Singapore since the early 1980s and has remained so since then, accounting for 29.7% of deaths in 2015. Rapid technological advancements in the treatment of cancer and the development of the specialty of radiation and medical oncology demanded nurses with the knowledge and skills to provide care and support to cancer patients and their families. The evolvement of oncology nursing as a specialty in Singapore mirrors many countries due to the increase in cancer incidences as well as the development of medical specialty in the treatment of cancer. This paper traces the development of oncology nursing as a clinical specialty in Singapore. The historical perspective maps up the factors that caused oncology nursing to develop as a specialty within nursing practice. As cancer continues to be the leading cause of mortality for many years to come in Singapore and cancer care continues to evolve, the roles of oncology nurses will continue to unfold and expand as part of an interdisciplinary team in the fight against cancer.

The evolution of oncology nursing: Leading the path to change

The roles and responsibilities of oncology nurses have rapidly transformed over the past century from general nurses providing bedside comfort care with few technological advances to advanced practice oncology nurses responsible for everything from performing invasive procedures to diagnostic interpretation and screening for cancer prevention. As cancer care continues to evolve, nurses will play a key role in the field of oncology, whether as specialized oncology nurses providing clinical care or as nurse researchers spearheading groundbreaking oncology research.

Évolution des soins infirmiers en oncologie : tracer la voie du changement

Les rôles et responsabilités des infirmières en oncologie ont passablement évolué en cent ans. En effet, les infirmières généralistes, d’abord attitrées aux soins de confort au chevet des patients – et disposant d’une technologie plus limitée –, ont laissé place à des infirmières en pratique oncologique avancée responsables de tout, de l’exécution des procédures invasives à l’interprétation de diagnostics, sans oublier le dépistage pour la prévention du cancer. À mesure que les soins en oncologie continueront d’évoluer, les infirmières seront appelées à jouer un rôle déterminant dans ce champ de pratique, et ce sera vrai tant pour les infirmières spécialisées en oncologie clinique que pour les pionnières de la recherche en oncologie.

Surgical Oncology Nursing: Looking Back, Looking Forward

OBJECTIVE

To provide a historical perspective in the development of oncology nursing and surgical oncology as critical components of today's health care system.

DATA SOURCES

Review of the literature and Web sites of key organizations.

CONCLUSION

The evolution of surgical oncology nursing has traversed a historical journey from that of a niche subspecialty of nursing that had very little scientific underpinning, to a highly sophisticated discipline within a very short time. Nursing continues to contribute its expertise to the encyclopedic knowledge base of surgical oncology and cancer care, which have helped improve the lives of countless patients and families who have had to face the difficulties of this diagnosis.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE

An understanding of the historical context for which a nursing specialty such as surgical oncology nursing evolves is critical to gaining an appreciation for the contributions of nursing.

Challenges for the clinical nurse specialist in uro-oncology care

Cancer is a complex illness that over the years has provoked much fear and speculation for patients, their relatives and health professionals. Emphasis has been placed on cancer management from the point of diagnosis, as well as treatments and their associated risks. As a result of increased technology and improved treatment modalities, more people are now surviving cancer and go on to live longer and healthier lives. While such an achievement is commendable, it places a significant strain on the healthcare economy. The Cancer Reform Strategy acknowledges that the management of cancers in the UK warrants clear definitive protocols and guidelines, to ensure a strategy that is capable of achieving the desired outcomes for those individuals who are affected by the disease. Integral to this objective is the multidisciplinary team, in which the role of the cancer nurse specialist is fundamental to achieving holistic patient outcomes. However, this article addresses the challenges of a uro-oncology clinical nurse specialist from a conceptual, as well as a personal, perspective. It focuses on the role that is specific to the management of patients who are diagnosed with urological cancers.

The use of healing touch in integrative oncology

The use of complementary therapies by patients with cancer has become increasingly prevalent; as a result, oncology nurses find themselves needing to understand those therapies and the evidence-based support for their use. This article describes the integrative use of the biofield therapy healing touch in conjunction with the chemoradiation received by patients with cervical cancer (stages IB1 to IVA) as reported in a 2010 research study. Findings indicated effects on the immune response and depression in healing touch recipients compared to patients receiving relaxation or standard care. Specifically, healing touch recipients demonstrated a minimal decrease in natural killer cell cytotoxicity over the course of treatment, whereas the cytotoxicity of patients receiving relaxation therapy and standard care declined sharply during radiation. Healing touch recipients also showed decreases in depressed mood compared to relaxation therapy and standard care recipients. The findings suggest that appropriate integration of complementary modalities into oncology care can enhance the impact of conventional care by putting patients in the best condition to use their innate healing resources.

The invisibility of nursing: implications from an analysis of National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center web sites

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

To identify the degree of oncology nursing representation on public Web sites of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs) in the United States.

DESIGN

Qualitative, descriptive.

SETTING

Web sites.

SAMPLE

40 CCCs.

METHODS

Using the Google search engine, a query was undertaken using the term National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. The search resulted in linkage to the site www.cancer.gov, which provided Web site addresses for 40 CCCs. The CCCs were classified into five categories based on the degree of nursing representation evident throughout each Web site.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES

Presence and quality of four themes in the Web site specific to oncology nursing activity at the CCC: (a) recognition of nursing on the CCC home page; (b) citations and/or descriptions of nursing personnel, programs, or recognitions within the Web site; (c) existence of a dedicated nursing Web page; and (d) acknowledgment of the chief nursing officer at the CCC.

FINDINGS

Only 2 of the 40 CCCs revealed broad representation of oncology nursing throughout their Web site. Nearly 63% of CCC Web sites had no or minimal content about nursing.

CONCLUSIONS

Public Web sites offer important information to patients with cancer, their families, and the general public. The absence of nursing in lay-oriented media devalues oncology nurses' highly specialized knowledge and skill.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING

Considerable opportunity exists to enhance the public's awareness of the scope and complexity of contemporary oncology nursing within the 40 CCCs in the United States. Omission of positive messages about nurses' work in hospital-related media misleads the public that nurses are not integral members of the multidisciplinary team. With the continued absence of both descriptive and results-oriented work quantification, oncology nurses will remain unable to communicate their worth to the public, nor take credit for their care.