By Oncology Nursing Society
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The podcast currently has 339 episodes available.
“Under normal conditions, EGFR [epidermal growth factor receptor] is in an auto-inhibited state. And it’s only when it’s needed that it’s upregulated. But when you have cancers that there is either a mutation in the EGFR or an overexpression, what you see is a dysregulation of normal cellular processes. So you get overexpression or switching on of prosurvival or antiapoptotic responses,” Rowena “Moe” Schwartz, professor of pharmacy practice at James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about the EGFR inhibitor drug class.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by November 8, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to EGFR inhibitor drugs.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“It wasn’t until 2004 that the mutations affecting the tyrosine kinase domain of epidermal growth factor receptor was linked to the responses that were seen in gefitinib. And that’s when we really started to understand the way that this was targeting certain patients’ cancers. So that led to the phase three study. People may remember the IPASS study that demonstrated that when patients had an activating mutation of EGFR, that that was a really good biomarker that selected out patients that would respond to therapy.” TS 2:58
“The new player on the market is the bispecific. … This was a bispecific that was developed to hit two different targets. The one target is EGFR. The second target was MET. And the reason MET was targeted is because when you have patients who are on EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, they do so well. But over time, resistance develops. And one of the mechanisms that are thought to be important for resistance is that MET pathway. So it was a development of a bispecific antibody that hit two different targets, EGFR and MET, hoping that you would get less resistance.” TS 7:12
“The other thing that I see with these agents is seeing them combined with chemotherapy. For a long time, it was these drugs were used as the single approach to someone with non-small cell lung cancer who had an EGFR mutation, and they did well. But I think we’re starting to see that because resistance does develop, that there may be roles for combination with chemotherapy, and you’re seeing that in terms of drug approval.” TS 19:10
“I think that people that don’t work in the clinic, say, with non-small cell lung cancer—they think of these as a group and don’t realize the uniqueness of specific agents, what mutations that they hit that affected those that penetrate into the [central nervous system], the drug interactions that are specific for certain agents. So I think that’s one of the common misconceptions.” TS 22:02
“The education, because it evolves so rapidly, is to realize that what you know, if it’s from a year ago, may not be the full picture. And so again, I’m going to call out ONS for the phenomenal resources on the Genomics and Precision Oncology Learning Library to help providers learn. And that is updated, and it is readily available. I think it is phenomenal, and I think it helps people build on their basic understanding of any of these types of therapy, including EGFR inhibitors.” TS 23:24
Episode 335: Ultrasound-Guided IV Placement in the Oncology Setting
“Much like many experienced oncology nurses, I learned how to do IVs with palpation. I got really good at it. And so I thought, there’s no way I need this ultrasound. But we know now that our patients are sicker. There are more DIVA patients, or difficult IV access patients. We’ve got to put the patient first, and we’ve got to use the best technology. So I’ve really come full circle with my thinking. In fact, now it’s like driving a car without a seatbelt,” MiKaela Olsen, DNP, APRN-CNS, AOCNS®, FAAN, clinical program director of oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Health System told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about ultrasound-guided IV placement.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by November 1, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement in the oncology setting.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“The benefit of having an ultrasound, it allows you to see through. You’re no longer sort of bound by, ‘Can I feel it? Are there skin discolorations or skin colors that are affecting my ability to see the vein clearly?’ You don’t have to worry about any of that. Is there edema? Is there lots of tissue? You can actually directly visualize the veins to assess not only the health of the vein, but some of the complications that could be there, like a thrombus in the vein or sclerosis or tortuous anatomy, arteries, nerve bundles. Those are things that you can now see with your machine.” TS 8:55
“I think that the most important part of [training] is having a really good didactic session where nurses come in and they learn reminders about the anatomy. Where are these veins? Where are the best veins to canulate when you’re using ultrasound? And we like to avoid the veins above the antecube for regular long peripheral IVs that we insert with ultrasound because we want to preserve those veins up higher for our [peripherally inserted central catheter] lines and midline. So we want to teach to try to use the forearm. The cephalic vein in the forearm is a really excellent vein to choose.” TS 17:24
“[Patients] are usually kind of impressed with the machine and the technology, and I explain that ‘We’re not able to get it without being able to see better, so I’m going to use my machine so that I can see better.’ And almost every time after I’m done, the patient is like, ‘Wow, are you done?’ … It’s the initial little puncture that hurts the patient. But unlike when we do it blindly and maybe we don’t get it right in the vein, and we’re having to dig around and reposition ourselves and get into that vein, we’re not doing that with ultrasound because you’re going to go into the vein, and then you're starting to do the threading, and you’re pulling your probe up as you go to get that catheter in the vein. The patient doesn’t feel that part. So they often comment about how they barely felt it and they can’t believe it’s over.” TS 21:21
“This is kind of my measure of success when we’re no longer kind of putting this on the patient. We’re not saying, ‘You have difficult veins. Your veins roll. You’re not drinking enough.’ That’s not okay anymore. We’ve got to take responsibility and use technology to do this more successfully.” TS 30:24
“There is an old saying that if you ignore your teeth, they’ll go away. I think that’s a true, true statement. People may think they can get away without daily hygiene. I think that’s kind of important, that you should at least get your teeth taken care of at least once or twice a day by brushing and flossing. I mean this has been proven. Our dental people have really taken the lead on preventive care with oral hygiene in that respect,” Raymond Scarpa, DNP, APN-C, AOCN® clinical program manager of head and neck oncology and supervisory advanced practice nurse in the department of otolaryngology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey at University Hospital in Newark,told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about the importance of oral health for patients with cancer.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by October 25, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to oral care for patients with cancer.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“Radiation, with or without a combination of chemotherapy, can lead to xerostomia, which is like a dry mouth. When this occurs, there’s reduced or even absent salivary flow. When this happens, it can lead to mucositis, which is a very painful swelling of the mucous membranes in the oral cavity. This increases the risk of infection and compromises speaking, chewing, and swallowing. Certain chemotherapeutic agents can also accelerate and increase the severity of these side effects.” TS 3:54
“I think pretreatment of the oral cavity prior to starting any of these treatments is a key to managing some of the side effects that can occur. This includes a referral to the dentist for any kind of extractions and removal of any nonviable dentation, along with providing some what they call fluoride treatments. The nurses can also influence the patient by helping them with their nutrition. It’s important for them to continue to try to swallow despite some of the side effects that can cause the discomfort in swallowing.” TS 6:53
“I always encourage [patients] to try to use soft-bristle toothbrushes, [water flossers] if necessary, soft foods, nonspicy foods, foods with moderate temperatures. … Try to make sure that they have enough lubrication to get the nutrition they need by including some gravies or sauces or water to help them swallow when their saliva is altered due to these side effects from the treatments.” TS 10:18
“I’ve been working in the head and neck cancer field for quite some time, and over the years, I’ve come to realize that this is probably one of the most devastating types of malignancies that someone has. … Head and neck cancer and oral cancers—they affect your basic survival needs. They affect your ability to communicate. They affect your ability to take in nutrition. They can affect your ability to breathe and certainly affect when someone looks at you. It’s right there. It’s staring them in the face. You can see the side effects of their treatments.” TS 22:41
“CDK4/6 inhibition is considered to be a milestone in the realm of targeted breast cancer therapy. The combination of CDK4/6 inhibitors with the endocrine therapy has really emerged as the foremost therapeutic modality for patients diagnosed with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer,” ONS member Teresa Knoop, MSN, RN, AOCN®-emeritus, independent nurse consultant in Nashville, TN, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during the latest episode in our series about anticancer drug classes.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by October 18, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to CDK inhibitors.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“Common toxicity among this class of agents are things like nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue. All three are associated with low white blood cell counts, which we know as neutropenia, which can cause an increased risk of infection.” TS 10:46
“All three of these CDK4/6 inhibitors are pills taken by mouth, and in most cases they’re all given along with endocrine therapy treatments. So, patients will be taking more than one drug. Teach patients how they will take their medication. And the frequency among the three drugs may vary.” TS 13:33
“Patients and caregivers need to know the time of day to take the pills, whether they need to be taken with or without food, or what to do if they miss a dose. We need to help them with a system for organizing the medications. They may find it helpful to use a pill organizer or set reminders on their smartphone, their smartwatch, their computer.” TS 14:29
“Pharmacy and nursing, in my experience, collaborate greatly by determining those drug–drug and drug–food interactions. It is so crucial in determining those interactions and educating our patients because we have to remind patients at each appointment and review these drugs and foods and other things they may be taking, at each appointment. And that often can be done by either pharmacists or nurses or both in collaboration.” TS 23:29
“This class of drug is generally well-tolerated, and I do want nurses to know that that we can help patients with these side effects. And they are generally well-tolerated with appropriate management.” TS 30:55
“Nurses really are the professionals who educate how to take these medicines, why we use multimodal therapies, why it isn’t medicine alone—helping patients to understand that pain is a biopsychosocial spiritual phenomenon, and the pills are just going to hit one little aspect of that entire phenomenon,” Judy Paice, PhD, RN, director of the cancer pain program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about nursing practices for cancer pain management.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 1 contact hour of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by October 11, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to managing pain in patients with cancer.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“Who do patients speak to about their pain? They’re often afraid to tell their oncologist, and studies have backed this up. The patient is worried that if they admit to more symptoms, they won’t be able to enroll in that clinical trial, so they talk to us, the nurse. And part of our role is to encourage that dialog and assess the pain fully.” TS 7:00
“The nonpharmacologic, which is equally important—and I see these as partners in relief, not as one versus the other. But we may have physical measures like [physical therapy] and [occupational therapy] and orthotics, heat and cold. We may have more emotional or psychological kinds of therapies—cognitive behavioral techniques. We may have integrative measures—mindfulness guided imagery, yoga, tai chi. And some of these kind of transcend multiple categories.” TS 15:57
“For breakthrough [pain], we try to again treat the underlying cause. If this is an unstable vertebral body, is a kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty a possibility for this patient? If there’s compression of nerve roots, might an epidural steroid injection or some other interventional procedure help, so that when the patient stands—and that’s often what we see the breakthrough pain occurring—or moves position, maybe we can provide some relief that’s more directed to the site of pain or source.” TS 24:35
“I set expectations. Again, this is where nurses are key. It is so important that you use these medicines for pain. Yes, they’re going to make you feel a little bit less anxious, a little warm and fuzzy, and maybe even help you fall asleep at night, but you cannot use them for that purpose. You can only use these medicines for pain control. We have other medicines to help you if you’re feeling anxious or if you’re having trouble sleeping at night. And if you use your opioids for those purposes, you are going to get into trouble.” TS 41:11
“One of the biggest things we’ve heard in nursing school and we continue to hear in practice is it takes anywhere from 15 to 20 years for knowledge in the literature to reach practice in a significant way. The DNP was designed to speed that up. We don’t want the best practices in literature to take 15 years. We want it to take 1 or 2 at best,” James Q. Simmons, DNP, AG/ACNP-BC, acute care nurse practitioner at Epic Medical Group in Los Angeles, CA, and founder of drjamesqsimmons.com, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about how DNP- and PhD-prepared nurses can collaborate to advance patient care and research.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by October 4, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to strategies for DNP and PhD collaboration.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“Nurses are expertly and perfectly positioned to be the leaders in [artificial intelligence] and technology, and reduction in workforce, and robotics, and all these different things that are happening in our healthcare system right now. I think nurses are primed to be the leaders of that, not just the ones reacting to it. And I think we become the leaders of that by having really, really eloquent, really fine-tuned PhD and DNP collaboration.” TS 6:42
“We had 30 people in this room all ‘speed dating’ each other. They were told beforehand to bring their 30-second elevator pitch; bring their business cards, either electronic or in person; bring what they’re looking for; bring a fun attitude. … There were two individuals who were focused on pediatric populations, both working on vaccine initiatives in marginalized and underserved communities, and they had no idea that each other had existed.” TS 12:59
“I think we’ve got to think about how we approach our own profession in service of our patients and the communities that we serve. We’ve got to think about things differently, and I think that we as nurses are the ones to do that. We are in such a sweet spot where we can be innovators, and we can be quick thinkers because we are, and we’re so highly educated and so highly experienced as a profession, that we’ve got to take as much of this knowledge as we can and share it with everyone and figure out what the best practices are going to be.” TS 19:14
“I think it’s also really important to acknowledge that PhD nurses are not just our friends in ivory towers who don’t practice and haven’t seen the inside of a clinic or listened to a patient’s lung sounds in 38 years. Sure, there are some of those PhD nurses that exist right now, and we need them. They play a valuable role. But that’s not all that being a PhD nurse means. There are plenty of PhD nurses who are doing really incredible things in the grind, in the hustle, on a day-to-day basis.” TS 24:07
“The reality is that we are responsible for creating a culture of safety together for everybody in the clinical area. We have to think not only about ourselves and our personal risk, but how exposure to these hazardous drugs persists in the work environment for everybody. And we have to be part of the solution for everybody, even if it’s not something that we’re personally really worried about being exposed to,” AnnMarie Walton, PhD, MPH, RN, OCN®, CHES, FAAN, associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing in Durham, NC, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about updates to the fourth edition of Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs, one of ONS’s book publications.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by September 20, 2026. AnnMarie Walton serves in a compensated consultant role with Splashblocker LLC and as a compensated speaker for BD. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learner will report an increase in knowledge related to safe handling of hazardous drugs.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast™ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“We know that this book is used in practice sites across the country and increasingly around the world, and we have the privilege of answering lots of questions of ONS’s members routinely. And we’ve also been part of writing guidance documents for ONS. And so, we utilized, as well, some of those questions that have come to us, and we know what people want to know more about. So we’ve made sure that we’ve developed a book that would be the most helpful in clinical practice settings.” TS 2:42
“We ensured that the book was in alignment with all of the most recent organizational position statements, standards, and recommendations. And there have been some big ones between the publication of the third and fourth book. So USP 800 is one that everyone knows about, and that became enforceable in November of 2023. … The ONS/HOPA [Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association] position statement, which was most recently updated in 2022, was also folded into this book. NIOSH [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] came out with two new guidance documents in 2023, and I had the opportunity to serve as a reviewer on one and a contributor to the other. Those two NIOSH guidelines have been folded into this book And then the ONS Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice, which MiKaela Olsen was a lead editor on and I was an author for, have also been folded into this text.” TS 7:01
“We’ve understood the NIOSH hierarchy of controls for years, and if we look at that hierarchy, it tells us that PPE is important but also the least effective when it comes to controlling exposure. And what’s slightly more effective is administrative controls, which are things like changes in our practices, more education, and training. And then even more powerful than administrative controls are engineering controls, and these are your closed-system transfer devices, for example, that are really important in minimizing exposure.” TS 10:31
“[Toilet pluming] is a place that I, for better or worse, spend a lot of time. And I have a colleague, Tom Connor from NIH [National Institutes of Health], who likes to joke when people ask him about his work. He says, ‘Oh, it’s in the toilet.’ And so I’m going to steal that from him and say a lot of my research is in the toilet, too.” TS 13:16
“I feel like people don’t know how contaminated toilets are and how contaminated floors are. And I’ve already told you my tip about leaving your work shoes outside. But I think if people were more aware that the toilets and the floors are often the most contaminated places on a unit, there would be more attention paid to people who are coming into contact with those surfaces and bear a lot of the exposure risk.” TS 22:51
“One of the things that’s really challenging with these BRAF inhibitors, plus MEK inhibitors, is that there’s a huge scope of potential toxicity, and they’re not all going to happen. So I think that there’s a real need to educate patients that they need to work with us so that when a toxicity develops, we can help address it. We can help think of strategies, whether it be medication strategies or whether it be other types of strategies, to make them feel better,” Rowena “Moe” Schwartz, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, professor of pharmacy practice at James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about the BRAF inhibitor drug class.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by September 13, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to BRAF inhibitors.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast™ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“BRAF is a gene found on chromosome 7 that encodes for protein that is also called BRAF. And this protein is really important in cell growth and signaling and promoting cell division, as well as some other functions. When you have a variant in BRAF, this causes that gene to turn on the protein and to keep it on. That means there’s a continual signaling to the cell to keep dividing and there’s no instruction to stop dividing.” TS 2:24
“[Side effects] are things like pyrexia, fatigue, muscle aches, those things. There is definitely rash. And as I mentioned, there are those secondary skin cancers, which are significantly less with the combination with MEK inhibitors. GI [gastrointestinal] toxicities are not uncommon. Different patients, different tolerance in terms of like nausea, taste changes. I think taste changes are one of the ones that are really challenging.” TS 10:17
“How to get rid of the agents when they’re done—I love that our institution has a program where they can bring them back, and we can help them get rid of it, because people just don’t know how to get rid of them when they’re no longer taking them. And you really don’t want them having them around the house.” TS 15:28
“Don’t assume that you can modify formulation. So if there is someone who can’t take oral pills and has to use a suspension, some drugs, there’s clear indications how to do that. Other ones there’s not. So collaborating on that is a really good thing. I hear too much where people will say, ‘Just crush the pill.’ These are not the drugs that you want to do that with.” TS 23:07
“Supportive personnel have a great ability to connect with patients and peers, and if that’s utilized effectively, it will make a great, great, great, great place to work, with great people to work with, because utilizing the supportive personnel and the great connections that they have, assistive personnel are kind of a lot of times the middle piece, and we don’t utilize it in that way,” Danielle Steele Anderson, CST II, NA II, research assistant at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about how supportive personnel are improving staffing and patient care in oncology units.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by September 6, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to the role of supportive staff in the care of people with cancer.
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“I worked on a 53-bed oncology unit that had limited staff and resources to complete audits on things like central lines, Foleys, tubings, turn compliance, falls—different things like that. Our nurses were dealing with high patient acuity and task overload, so one of our amazing CN4s came up with this awesome rule as a cost-effective way to perform and sustain quality improvements on our unit.” TS 3:15
“Even before this role, I never thought about being on a committee. I never even knew that assistive personnel could even be on committees. I thought committees were tailored more toward nursing. But being in this committee, I feel like involving assistive personnel in committees, can number one, empower them and boost their morale, which in turn, can have higher job satisfaction, good retention.” TS 11:42
“Encouraging assistive personnel and participating in continuing education programs that may be offered to learn more about oncology-specific care, teaching clinical skills that may be within the scope of practice. With this position, I am able to do a lot of tasks that are beneficial to both our nurses and assistive personnel.” TS 16:08
“Opportunities to shadow with nurses during procedures can kind of give us that hands-on learning experience to know more about specific things that are going on and what to monitor with patients. And then also it just will help build connections within our healthcare team and your workplace and your unit.” TS 16:59
“It’s not often in life that you find something that gives you this feeling, but I’m really so fortunate to have found mine, and I know this is only just the beginning, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds. I definitely owe a lot of that to the Oncology Nursing Society for opening up all those doors for me and really getting me into this field.” Samantha Paulen, BSN, RN, told Jessica MacIntyre, DNP, MBA, APRN, AOCNP®, 2024–2026 ONS president, during a conversation about student nurses entering the oncology field. MacIntyre spoke with Paulen and Tayler Covino, BSN, RN, both recent graduate nurses, about why they chose oncology nursing as a specialty.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Episode Notes
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing PodcastÔ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
“I was first drawn to oncology nursing freshman year of high school when my grandmother, who was my ultimate best friend, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and by the time they had caught it, it had metastasized to nearly every surrounding organ. And as I mentioned earlier, my grandmother was a nurse. So being a nurse, she was very stubborn, and when she finally had gone to the hospital after having a variety of symptoms, it was almost too late.” (Paulen) TS 7:27
“There’s really nothing more special to me than being able to develop relationships with my patients and support them throughout their journey. It’s incredibly rewarding making such a difference in their lives and being able to witness the strength and resilience of patients battling cancer, and it’s such an inspiration. Being able to provide my support both medically and empathetically is truly such an honor.” (Paulen) TS 10:04
“I also had a family member who was diagnosed with cancer. He was my uncle. And I witnessed firsthand the impact that compassionate and knowledgeable oncology nurses had on his treatment, and it really did leave such a lasting impact on me. … This experience deeply inspired me, and I just always wanted to be part of a team that offers hope and comfort to their patients and their families.” (Covino) TS 12:10
“I touched on my pediatric oncology clinical rotation, but I really do think it gave me insights into caring for younger cancer patients. This experience really emphasized the importance of a holistic approach to nursing, considering not just medical but also the emotional and developmental needs of children who are battling cancer.” (Covino) TS 24:05
“I also joined ONS as a student, so it was a large part of my college education and really gave me great access to resources, being able to attend meetings, and just stay updated on the latest in oncology nursing with the articles that they send out and just provided me with great networking opportunities with so many experienced oncology nurses who have such a wide breadth of knowledge.” (Covino) TS 24:27
“Practicing mindfulness and meditation has also been incredibly helpful in staying grounded and managing the emotional stress. These practices help me stay present. They reduce anxiety and maintain a positive outlook, even in these challenging environments. It’s really important to just set emotional boundaries as well to avoid burnout.” (Covino) TS 33:05
“There’s such a fulfillment that you get for making a significant impact on patients’ lives, and that’s what inspires me and should inspire others to consider this specialty. There’s also a lot of growth opportunities, and I think it’s really important to emphasize the growth opportunities within the field. And also just the advancements in cancer treatment can attract new nurses because there really is so much advancement in the field of cancer treatment.” (Paulen) TS 42:59
“I feel that specifically in this specialty, oncology nurses in particular are so much more willing to help versus they say that sometimes some nurses may eat their prey or whatever they might say. But I really think that oncology nurses are so willing to help, but sometimes you just have to really expose yourself and open up that door.” (Paulen) TS 45:07
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