Patients reported lower levels of pain and stress after participating in virtual reality and art therapy programs, according to presenters sharing findings from two different pilot projects during the ONS Bridge^TM virtual conference on September 14, 2021.

Lack of standardized selection and maintenance regarding vascular access devices (VADs) across institutions creates challenge for nurses caring for patients with these devices, Dawn Camp-Sorrell, MSN, CRNP, AOCN^®, of Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, said during a session held at the ONS Bridge^TM virtual conference on September 14, 2021. To help guide oncology nurses in preventing and managing complications, she provided best practices for central line bundles.

Nurses and other members of the healthcare community have both the power and responsibility to reduce disparities in access to telehealth services, Mark Rastetter, MD, Cynthia J. Sieck, PhD, MPH, and Rose Grady, FNP, said during a session held at the ONS Bridge^TM virtual conference on September 14, 2021. They shared their experience creating digital equity among patients using telehealth at Ohio State University’s (OSU’s) Wexner Medical Center.

The nursing shortage has reached dire proportions and more needs to be done to ensure the United States has the nurses we need to care for the public, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Nurses Association (ANA) said in a September 2021 letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging the agency to declare the shortage a national crisis and to take action against it.

My area of research focus is adults with primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors, which represent less than 2% of all diagnosed cancers. Because of the cancers’ rarity, access to diagnosed patients for research initiatives is limited. My team’s program, NCI-CONNECT, a part of the Rare Tumor Patient Engagement Network supported by the Cancer Moonshot, is advancing our understanding of adults with rare CNS cancers by establishing patient-advocacy-provider partnerships and networks to improve care and treatment approaches.

When chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies were first approved for cancer in 2017, nurses didn’t have years of clinical practice experience with the treatment to understand its full scope of nursing implications yet. Now that nearly five years have passed—and new CAR T-cell therapies have been approved, bringing the total number of treatments to five as well—oncology nurses and nurse scientists have built a robust knowledge base.

Here are some of the highlights from the ONS Board of Directors’ monthly meeting on July 20, 2021. For a more complete list of the Board’s discussions and decisions, view the minutes online.

Across the United States, White citizens are experiencing an awakening, recognizing the systematic racism that bleeds into every fabric of life, from housing and grocery shopping to education and earning an income, affecting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Scalp cooling, also known as cryotherapy, may reduce the risk of chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) in patients with cancer, but how do you know if the therapy is right for your patients? According to speakers at an ONS Bridge^TM virtual conference session on September 9, 2021, start with the evidence.

Opioids are one strategy to help manage the cancer-related pain that nearly 75% of patients with cancer experience throughout the disease or its treatment. However, the prevalence of opioid misuse disorder (OUD) among patients with cancer is believed to be at least equal to that of the general population, Debra Rodrigue, MA, RN-BC, AOCNS^®, explained during a session for the ONS Bridge^TM virtual conference on September 9, 2021.