Development and Implementation of an Oncology Clinical Research Nursing Residency Program for Newly Licensed Nurses.

ABSTRACT: A paucity of nurses trained in clinical research prompted the development and implementation of a newly licensed nurse residency program in oncology research. The components of the program, funding, curriculum development, preceptor model, and partnerships, are described. Formal evaluation to quantify success in creating a pipeline for the future, increasing retention, and reducing costs is underway and will be reported in a future publication.

The Dual Epidemics of 2020: Nursing Leaders' Reflections in the Context of Whole Person/Whole Systems.

The Greater Boston Nursing Collective, a consortium composed of university nursing deans and chief nursing officers within academic medical centers and specialty hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts, was formed in 2014. Since the group's inception, our mission has been to create and reinforce whole-person/whole-system healing environments to improve the health of all communities. Through our collaboration in navigating the dual epidemics of COVID-19 and structural racism within our respective organizations, and across the United States and the world, we share experiences and lessons learned. Our common mission is clearer than ever: to create safe and joyful work environments, to protect the dignity of those we are privileged to serve, and to generate policies to advance health equity to rectify societal forces that have shaped this dual epidemic. We are humbled by the many who persist despite limited rest and respite, and whose stories, innovations, and leadership we are honored to witness and share. They have defined our generation, just as nurses in earlier crises have done: leading through service to others as our purpose and privilege.

Components of an Effective Professional Development Strategy: The Professional Practice Model, Peer Feedback, Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Succession Planning.

OBJECTIVES: To review components of an effective professional development strategy in the oncology setting that includes mentorship, sponsorship, and succession planning. DATA SOURCES: OvidSP, practice standards, professional guidelines, and websites. CONCLUSIONS: There are compelling reasons why oncology nurses in all settings are required to remain current in their area of practice and use strategies that take advantage of available opportunities for professional development. Benefits include enhanced autonomy, strengthened individual competence, greater engagement, and enriched organizational cultures that can positively impact patient care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Creating an environment that supports professional development is dependent on nurse leaders and the organizational commitment to the value of lifelong learning. Professional development can be enabled through many structures, including mentorship, sponsorship, and succession planning.

The nurse coordinator role: fulfillment of the nursing profession's compact with society.

The implementation of a new role in healthcare teams frequently emanates from emerging or changing needs in the care delivery system or expressed needs of clinicians, patients or caregivers. In this commentary on the experience of the nurse coordinator role in Israel we suggest based on similar experiences in the United States, that effective implementation is accomplished when the functions of the role are well delineated with respect to other members of the team and informed by the needs of patients, their caregivers and clinicians. The outcomes expected from those performing the role should be established and measured over time.

Teamwork and Electronic Health Record Implementation: A Case Study of Preserving Effective Communication and Mutual Trust in a Changing Environment.

This article describes how trust among team members and in the technology supporting them was eroded during implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) in an adult outpatient oncology practice at a comprehensive cancer center. Delays in care of a 38-year-old woman with high-risk breast cancer occurred because of ineffective team communication and are illustrated in a case study. The case explores how the patient's trust and mutual trust between team members were disrupted because of inaccurate assumptions about the functionality of the EHR's communication tool, resultant miscommunications between team members and the patient, and the eventual recognition that care was not being effectively coordinated, as it had been previously. Despite a well-established, team-based culture and significant preparation for the EHR implementation, the challenges that occurred point to underlying human and system failures from which other organizations going through a similar process may learn. Through an analysis and evaluation of events that transpired before and during the EHR rollout, suggested interventions for preventing this experience are offered, which include: a thorough crosswalk between old and new communication mechanisms before implementation; understanding and mitigation of gaps in the communication tool's functionality; more robust training for staff, clinicians, and patients; greater consideration given to the pace of change expected of individuals; and development of models of collaboration between EHR users and vendors in developing products that support high-quality, team-based care in the oncology setting. These interventions are transferable to any organizational or system change that threatens mutual trust and effective communication.

Oral Chemotherapy Education: Using Innovation to Ensure Broad Access.

The purpose of this article is to share one institution's intervention to improve oral chemotherapy patient education. The overall aim was to provide clinicians with a single source of educational materials that would meet a diverse group of patients' educational needs and be consistent with published guidelines.
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What matters to the patient is what really matters: quality in oncology nursing.

Reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the Oncology Nursing Society led me to recall my own 30-plus years in nursing and how, as a new graduate nurse, almost all oncology care was delivered in the inpatient setting. In my first few years of practice, I mixed my patients' chemotherapy in a medicine room without a ventilated hood and administered those medications without personal protective equipment or the independent RN double checks that have become standard to safe practice today. Through advances in science, tools are now in place to test and make changes, measure impact, and sustain improvements over time. Through advancements in nursing science and oncology research, the ability to treat and cure many cancers and to manage the symptoms and side effects of treatment has improved. Those improvements extend survival; enhance quality of life; and keep patients, staff, and practice environments safer than ever before. In addition, the human side of care has advanced with respect to the quality of interactions with patients and families. Some call this the art of nursing. I call it the essence of our practice. Increasingly, nurses are able to name specific interventions, measure impact, and document outcomes of this so-called art. It is to this human side of our practice that I dedicate this column.
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Quality care: where we came from and where we must go.

The focus of this new column will be to showcase innovative work that has advanced quality in areas of practice and care delivery that are of interest to the practicing oncology nurse. Examples include, but are not limited to, practice environment innovation, patient outcomes and experiences of care, team effectiveness, and unit-based or institutionwide system changes.

High performance teamwork training and systems redesign in outpatient oncology.

BACKGROUND: Oncology care is delivered largely in ambulatory settings by interdisciplinary teams. Treatments are often complex, extended in time, dispersed geographically and vulnerable to teamwork failures. To address this risk, we developed and piloted a team training initiative in the breast cancer programme at a comprehensive cancer centre. METHODS: Based on clinic observations, interviews with key staff and analyses of incident reports, we developed interventions to address four high-risk areas: (1) miscommunication of chemotherapy order changes on the day of treatment; (2) missing orders on treatment days without concurrent physician appointments; (3) poor follow-up with team members about active patient issues; and (4) conflict between providers and staff. The project team developed protocols and agreements to address team members' roles, responsibilities and behaviours. RESULTS: Using a train-the-trainer model, 92% of breast cancer staff completed training. The incidence of missing orders for unlinked visits decreased from 30% to 2% (p<0.001). Patient satisfaction scores regarding coordination of care improved from 93 to 97 (p=0.026). Providers, infusion nurses and support staff reported improvement in efficiency (75%, 86%, 90%), quality (82%, 93%, 93%) and safety (92%, 92%, 90%) of care, and more respectful behaviour (92%, 79%, 83%) and improved relationships among team members (91%, 85%, 92%). Although most clinicians reported a decrease in non-communicated changes, there was insufficient statistical power to detect a difference. CONCLUSIONS: Team training improved communication, task coordination and perceptions of efficiency, quality, safety and interactions among team members as well as patient perception of care coordination.

Hopelessness and complementary therapy use in patients with ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hopelessness negatively affects ovarian cancer patients' quality of life (QOL). Research validating the effects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use on QOL and hope is scarce, even though QOL and hope are reasons that patients cite for using CAM therapy. Clinicians need effective, evidence-based interventions to improve QOL and reduce hopelessness. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to examine factors influencing hopelessness in patients with newly diagnosed disease, long-term survivors, and patients experiencing ovarian cancer recurrence and to examine the effects of CAM on hopelessness in the same population. METHODS: Surveys of ovarian cancer patients (N = 219) undergoing treatment at a comprehensive cancer center in the United States were analyzed. Descriptive, correlation, and multivariate analyses described variables and demonstrated the effects of sociodemographics, disease state, psychological distress, QOL, CAM use, and faith on hopelessness. RESULTS: Patients ages 65 years or older (-0.95, P = .03), with strong faith (-0.28, P = .00), and good QOL (0.11, P = .00) directly reduced hopelessness scores (mean, 3.37). Massage therapy substantially reduced hopelessness scores (-1.07, P = .02); holding age constant, employed patients were twice as likely to use massage (odds ratio, 2.09; P = .04). Patients who had newly diagnosed and recurrent ovarian cancer were more hopeless because of greater distress from symptoms and adverse effects of treatment. CONCLUSION: Patients who used massage therapy were significantly less hopeless, as were those with strong faith and well-controlled disease symptoms and treatment for adverse effects. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Support of spiritual needs and symptom management are important interventions to prevent and/or reduce hopelessness, especially for patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent ovarian cancer. Further research testing the positive effect of massage interventions on hopelessness is needed.

Interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration: an essential element of a positive practice environment.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is critical to excellence in patient care delivery. There is a growing consensus that the basic education for all clinical professionals should include the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to effectively participate in interdisciplinary teams, and that health care organizations should continue this education in the practice setting. The authors examine the large and growing evidence base regarding interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork and explore the relationship between interdisciplinary collaboration and patient, workforce, and organizational outcomes. Antecedents and attributes of the construct are presented, as well as structures, models, and programs that are being implemented by health care organizations and academic settings to facilitate and advance interdisciplinary collaboration in clinical practice.