Up Front
Telephone Triage
As the care of patients with cancer has shifted from the inpatient arena to the outpatient setting, the traditional role of outpatient oncology nurses has also changed. Outpatient oncology nurses must not only be knowledgeable about disease processes and care of patients in the clinic, but they must also be skilled in telephone nursing triage.
Cancer Care Behind Bars
Approximately 9% of U.S. inmates face cancer while in prison. As patients with cancer, they are not much different than nonprisoners. However, for the oncology nurses who care for them, this patient population has some interesting challenges.
Cancer Vaccines
Vaccines have been a part of medical care since the English physician Edward Jenner deliberately exposed a young boy to infectious material from cowpox blisters to prevent the disease more than 200 years ago. Since that time, vaccines have become a significant public health achievement against infectious diseases. Yet, despite their widespread use, many oncology nurses wonder why vaccines are relatively rare in the oncology setting.
Nursing as a Second Career
Some nurses have known since childhood what they wanted to be when they grew up, whereas others didn’t decide until they switched majors a few times in college. Then there are those who didn’t find out that nursing was meant for them until later—years later.
Finding Your Niche
You have been an oncology staff nurse for more than five years, caring for patients with various cancers, and your colleague asks you whether you have plans to specialize in radiation, palliative care, or stem cell transplantation. You reply, “Oncology nursing is already considered a specialty; do I have to?” The answer depends on how you want to shape your career.
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