Search Results for ""

Research and practice changes funded through healthcare legislation have influenced today’s care delivery across all settings: hospitals, clinics, and even homes. And with their constituents laser-focused on health in today’s pandemic society, legislators have never made that happen so quickly.

As a member of the Inland Empire (IE) ONS Chapter in Southern California, I was invited to volunteer at the 2022 ONS Congress® by monitoring rooms and preparing gift bags for the conference attendees.

Home care is a patient-centered ambulatory care option that improves treatment adherence, symptom management, length of hospital stays, cost of care, psychosocial well-being, and quality of life. It is the future of care delivery, creating a “more accessible, effective, efficient, safe, and economical sustainable system.”

Smokers who try to quit by switching to e-cigarettes do not have more success than those who use other smoking cessation strategies and in fact may be more likely to relapse, researchers found. They reported their study results in Tobacco Control.

People with cancer have a particular risk for infection, and vaccines can be a powerful preventive tool. According to the World Health Organization, immunization prevents 2–3 million deaths every year worldwide from diseases, including diphtheria, influenza, and measles. Here’s what patients and nurses need to know about vaccines and guidelines for people with cancer.

An inherited disorder characterized by the formation of benign and malignant tumors and cysts throughout the body, Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL) occurs with an altered VHL tumor suppressor gene with autosomal dominant transmission. Estimated incidence is 1 in 36,000 people, both males and females equally, and the mean age of onset is 26 years. About 20% of patients with VHL are the first person in their family to have the pathogenic variant (i.e., de novo). The diagnosis is made with germ­line biomarker testing.

Climate change affects more than weather patterns or the environment; it also has a substantial impact on human health. Its contribution to the cancer burden includes increased levels of carcinogens, comorbidity factors, cancer incidence, and cancer mortality and reduced access to care.

Patients younger than 40 who elected to have breast-conserving surgery instead of mastectomy to remove breast cancer reported having better quality of life (QOL) more than five years after diagnosis, according to study findings reported in JAMA Surgery.

Responses to pandemic-related screening and treatment delays have created new opportunities for oncology advanced practice RNs (APRNs), too. In both their institutions and communities, APRNs are guiding patients and providers to reverse the increases in late cancer diagnoses, morbidity, and mortality—ultimately improving outcomes.

Some people may be overjoyed at the prospect of completing their cancer treatment and returning to normal life, but for many others, fear and anxiety can overshadow feelings of elation. The survivorship phase of a cancer journey can be confusing and uncertain. Comments like, “I don’t know what is next” and “The responsibility for care is now up to me” can alert oncology nurses that patients need additional communication and strategies to transition into healthy survivorship.