A responsibility of the ONS president, Board members, and senior staff is to advocate for our patients and our profession. To say that 2017 was a busy year is an understatement. This column, whether written by the president or by me, often describes where ONS has been, who has represented the organization and you, and what our advocacy or education has been.

Do you promote optimal patient outcomes, advocate for patients’ voices, and implement change? Then you’re a nurse leader. It is easy to think of nurse leaders as those in administrative positions or conducting bedside research, but the reality is that nursing leadership can take on many roles through a variety of different nursing positions, from generalist to certified to advanced practice. Leadership is about influencing change and improvement, inspiring those around you.

ONS member Ruth McCorkle, PhD, RN, FAAN, was awarded the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her national and international contributions to oncology, specifically in the areas of palliative care, psychosocial care, and quality of life research. McCorkle is the first nurse to receive this honor from the Yale Cancer Center.

Former ONS member Margo McCaffery, RN, MS, FAAN, was a leader and pioneer in pain management for nursing. Through her work, she helped to identify and treat patients with acute and chronic pain in a number of healthcare settings. McCaffery’s 1968 definition of pain was simple—“It’s whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever and wherever the person says it does.” Her words have become a touchstone for clinicians addressing and treating patients in pain.

Happy New Year! The beginning of the year is a time to look forward and anticipate possibilities. It is also a time to reflect on what has been accomplished in the past year. 

At the October Board meeting, we looked back at 2017 as a year that included great meeting times for ONS members at Congress in Denver, CO; regional chapter officer meetings; Leadership Weekend in Pittsburgh, PA; and Capitol Hill Days in Washington, DC. The ONS Board also looked ahead to 2018 and the third year of the strategic plan.

I just finished writing a sympathy card to the family of “Beth.” For the past five years, Beth was in a support group that I facilitate for individuals with advanced cancer. Beth is an example of why I am an oncology nurse. She was an amazing woman. A deliberate thinker, she collected information and made decisions about her health that fit her goals. She once asked me, “How can you continue to care for folks with cancer year after year? It must be hard.”

Every oncology nurse has a story about how he or she was drawn into cancer care. For some it’s through professional mentors or a personal experience with cancer. ONS member Kimberley Munn, RN, BSN, OCN^®, was raised in a family of healthcare professionals.

In 2017, the ONS Board is implementing the new process where the Board of Directors appoints the next president who will be responsible for the ongoing shaping and molding of our society. During our virtual meeting on August 29, this was one of the most important topics that we discussed. The Board is committed to ensuring that our next leader has the vested interest of our organization and possesses the core competencies and values necessary to continue to move our organization forward.

Through contributions in the field, oncology nurses are driving the quality of cancer care forward, improving patient outcomes and enhancing quality of life and access to care. Whether they’re changing practice through innovation, research, excellence, or leadership, ONS members are making a big difference in practices across the country—and several have recently been recognized for their achievements in oncology nursing.

The annual ONS Leadership Weekend brings together the boards of ONS, ONS Foundation (ONSF), and the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC); the ONS Leadership Development Committee; the ONCC committee chairs; and leadership representatives from all of our chapters. Many national office staff join in the planning and activities too. The weekend is a valued, traditional investment in volunteer leaders at the local and national levels. In one session during this year’s meeting in July 2017, the questions that were asked indicated to me that understanding ONS and the roles and responsibilities of the various groups in the ONS enterprise could be helpful.

Preventing a cancer diagnosis is the most surefire way to survive it. However, the public and news media communicate more about emerging treatments and newly approved oncology drugs and less about ways people can take steps to prevent cancer before it starts. Oncology nurses have a role and obligation to spread public health education and an attention to disease prevention, so many Americans change risky habits that would otherwise lead to future cancer diagnoses.

Estimates suggest that 30% of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes and vaccinations. We know that tobacco accounts for 90% of all lung cancers and contributes to increased risk for head and neck cancers. It’s also well known that sun exposure is associated with increased incidence of basal and squamous cell skin cancers, as well as the most dangerous skin cancer, melanoma.

Earlier this month, I found this picture of my grandmother from 1918. She must have sent it to her sister, because on the back of the photo was scrawled a message: “I thought you might want a snap to see me in my nursing uniform.” This is like a selfie from nearly a hundred years ago. Although the sign behind her says, “Don’t park here,” that’s exactly what she’s doing. The humor was not lost.

As an oncology clinical nurse specialist (CNS), you may find yourself answering over and over the question of, “What is it you do?” In many instances, it is a broader role then most may realize, and you wear several hats. As you explain to other oncology staff what a CNS does, focus on the three spheres of influence.

Heather Costa, PHR, SHRM-CP, a nurse recruiter, and Precious Suchora Farroni, PHR, SHRMCP, an advanced practice recruiter, both from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, helped nurse attendees differentiate between a resume and a curriculum vitae (CV), offered tips to make both stand out, and provided tips to help boost professional profiles.

Oncology nurses seeking to further their education, earn continuing education credits, perform research, or implement professional projects are encouraged to apply for funding through the ONS Foundation, a charitable arm of ONS. Linda Worrall, RN, MSN, executive director of the ONS Foundation, presented an overview of their many awards, grants, and scholarships.

The development of an abstract, poster, or podium presentation is a significant undertaking. Presenting the scope of your work in a concise and effective way can be daunting, but it does not have to be. Erica Fischer-Cartlidge, MSN, CNS, CBCN^®, AOCNS^®, a clinical nurse specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provided advice on abstract writing and presentation.

As part of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and in collaboration with the Presidential Innovation Fellows, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed and launched a new website in 2016. It provides user-friendly access to the repository of abstracts of cancer clinical trials that NCI supported.

When a severe tornado hit Joplin, MO, on the evening of May 22, 2011, the situation was serious. St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin was hit so hard that it is still unusable. It needed to be evacuated, nearby Freeman hospital became quickly overwhelmed with patients, and the surrounding community prepared for action.

In the early hours of September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike—a category 2 hurricane—hit Galveston Island, TX, bringing with it sustained winds of up to 110 miles per hour and storm surges reaching as high as 17 feet. By the next day, more than 200 shelters had opened across Texas to house the estimated 40,000 people who had been forced to evacuate from their homes.

When I received an offer for a position on the stem cell transplant unit at UPMC Shadyside in Pittsburgh, PA, I had no question about whether to accept it. It was, and still is, my dream nursing job. I started in August 2015 and have since grown as a healthcare professional and as a person. This setting is challenging physically, mentally, and psychologically. My undergraduate education prepared me well for the technical aspects of nursing, but I had little training in managing the emotions that would come with this job.

I live in Middle Tennessee, an area that’s part of tornado alley, a pathway across central United States that has a higher incidence of tornadoes. We routinely prepare for the storms, listening for the tornado sirens whether at home or work. Although there have been a number of tornado touchdowns in our region in recent years, fortunately none have directly hit our healthcare facilities.

One of the primary vehicles for sharing your expertise with colleagues and peers is to publish a professional article. This process may seem daunting and difficult—an impression that no doubt deters many oncology nurses from pursuing it. But the truth is that getting published is a feasible goal. It is also one that enhances your professional development.

Oncology nursing has certain universal truths: Your patients are going to need care. They’re going to need advocates, educators, and support systems to help them face their cancer diagnoses. Whether you work in a town that’s as American as apple pie or the Kingdom of Bhutan in the Eastern Himalayas, oncology nurses are at the ground level providing patient-centered care that leads to positive outcomes.

With an increasing number of baby boomers—both leaving the nursing profession and finding themselves in need of care—a workforce shortage is continuing to challenge the nursing industry. Recent reports have also indicated that educators in nursing programs have dropped off, leading to fewer nursing graduates. Some educational institutions are seeking accelerated programs to meet the demands of the growing healthcare market.

In March 2017, President Trump issued what was called his “skinny budget.” The name refers to the short length of his proposed budget document, as well as the draconian cuts it brought to almost every federal agency.

This year the American Nurses Association’s National Nurses Week theme was Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit. Take time this month to establish new ways to find balance. As nurses we are taught to view the individuals we care for holistically, yet we don’t always care for ourselves with the same focus. Spring is a symbolic time to renew. Take time to learn something new, take actions to renew your spirit, and be mindful of ways to nourish your body. These actions are important for your health and for the health or those you care for.

As much of the Northeast received a spring snowstorm, the ONS Board of Directors met face to face in Pittsburgh the second week of March. For this Texas girl, it was a beautiful sight to watch the falling snow as the Board discussed important organizational issues, and I couldn’t help but draw associations between our board governance work and the seasonal work of sowing into programs and reaping the reward of those programs to achieve our organizational vision.

It’s 2017, and one would think that all patients are treated equally. Nursing has certainly been educated to treat all patients with the same levels of respect and dignity and to provide excellent medical care regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or religious beliefs. In the theory of nursing, I think we all strive and believe that patients should be treated equally. However, at least for the reality of nursing that I work in, that doesn’t always feel true.

The National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM’s), formerly known as the Institutes of Medicine, 2010 Future of Nursing report was touted as a significant shift in the nursing profession. The report provided four important milestones for the field to achieve by 2020.

When I met Shirley, she was poised, mature, and clearly very smart, but she was also humble. She had just graduated nursing school and had no experience. Our usual applicants had several years of nursing or a few years of oncology nursing experience. As a leadership team, we chose to trial a new graduate nurse on our team. This decision came following a great deal of discussion and preparation.

Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, NEABC, FAAN, has been appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in Philadelphia. Cunningham is the first nurse, oncology-specific or otherwise, to hold the position since the institution’s inception in 1874. She begins her tenure as CEO for HUP in April 2017.

When I was first approached about the opportunity to precept a new graduate nurse, I was hesitant. Although I had trained experienced nurses, I was nervous about the challenges I might encounter in training a new graduate in a fast-paced environment.

Cold and clammy hands were tightly clasped around mine. Tears began welling up in her eyes. She struggled to mouth the words, “I have cancer.” Ten minutes ago, she and I were just strangers. As a part-time electrocardiogram transporter, I had just met this middle-aged woman, wheeling her down to the third floor for a computed tomography scan. After a brief introduction and small talk, I noticed a sense of despair in her eyes. I asked her if anything was troubling her. She told me she was just diagnosed with lung cancer with no family nearby to care for her.

In a new international partnership, ONS is teaming up with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) to provide opportunities for ONS members to work with healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Volunteers are given the opportunity to make an impact by sharing their expertise through educating, training, and developing healthcare professionals in LMICs.