love the patients and their families. Seven reasons why oncology nurses should get certified. always grateful for everything you do for them. Oncology nurses have to hone the psychosocial side of their role in addition to the highly technical aspects of monitoring their patients. Oncology nurses can also work in the private sector or be nurse entrepreneurs to expand their horizons beyond the traditional health care setting. An oncology nurse may be required to supervise a team of nursing assistants to help ensure top care of patients. Perspective about what’s important. JTWidget = {code: 'MTQiullov0bF7CZWcayqMi0ztb0Czdq6'}; Springer Publishing Company
Since oncology nurses often work with very sick patients, they need to take extra care to not take work home. The oncology nurses we spoke to all named the patients as their favorite part of the job. That said, oncology is a particularly challenging subset of nursing due to the nature of the disease. Op-Med website. Karen also chairs RHLCCC’s Best Practice committee, ensuring evidence-based practice across the cancer center. It is difficult to lose patients after you’ve gotten to know them and bonded with them and their families, but the most challenging thing about the work is that you don’t have enough time to do all the things you know would make much more of a difference because you have too many administrative demands on you coming from your employer. Karen was instrumental in the development of the first preceptorship program at RHLCCC to develop high-level oncology nurses. Stepping back and focusing on rest and rejuvenation will help you return to the job with even more sensitivity, empathy, and emotional resilience. With May being designated as Oncology Nursing Month, it’s a good time for nursing students to learn more about becoming an oncology nurse and connect with oncologists who have made the great big specialty leap. To qualify, you have to spend at least one year working as an RN, work 1,000 hours in an oncology setting, and pass an exam. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor
Nurses will have to take an active role in their own lives to minimize burnout. Compassion fatigue or emotional burnout is a real challenge for many health care professionals. After getting an RN license, a prospective oncology nurse will need to meet specific eligibility criteria and pass an exam. Even when a patient’s cancer is quite advanced or a prognosis is poor, oncology nurses love making a difference in quality of life. Nurses of all sorts need to be able to dig deep emotionally, physically, and mentally to persevere through tough shifts. An interviewer may ask about the way you supervise a team. Being an oncology nurse also helps me to keep things in perspective within my own life. Nursing is more about computer screens and documentation than it is about patient care, unfortunately.”. Major milestone against cancer. The nursing shortage will be severe, ultimately increasing the number of burnout syndrome among nurses. Just my thoughts, not so profound. Cancer patients tend to have multi-system problems and can be complicated so you will definitely use your critical thinking. Oncology nurses work in a multi-disciplinary team, in a variety of settings, from the inpatient ward, to the bone marrow transplant unit, through to the community. Navigating the C: A Nurse Charts The Course for Cancer Survivorship Care, Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation, 8 Tips for Surviving the Holidays if You Have a Demanding Job, Mantras and Affirmations for Nurses Amid COVID-19, The New Nurse Guide: 11 Ways to Adjust to a New Practice, Good at discerning when to listen and support, Comfortable with end-of-life issues, grief, and loss. Many nurses find a career in oncology to be especially rewarding. Good oncology nurses will notice even small changes in their patients’ charts and are the first line of defense if something is amiss. “Make sure you are really driven to do this work and that you have a true passion because it is extremely physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding,” she says. Just remember that you can’t do your best work if you’re emotionally and physically exhausted. Taking a few minutes to protect yourself from exposure to hazardous drugs is better than your health being compromised. If you think that you have the emotional resilience, technical precision, and compassion to pursue oncology nursing, this field is incredibly rewarding. You should be ready to identify the strategies you utilize to make sure workers are … It’s always smart to reach out to a variety of experienced individuals in your chosen field. “I feel like the standard answer to what is great about oncology … No matter how hard or bad I think my day is, it’s never as bad as my patients’. Nitzky adds, “Nursing students should seek opportunities to talk with oncology nurses who have left traditional health care and work in the community or public health settings, because they will give you a much more well-rounded look at the value you bring to your patients and clients.”. The exact parameters vary state by state, but advanced certifications generally require a master’s degree or higher in nursing as well as hundreds of hours of supervised clinical practice.