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“Participating in formal academic degree programs, obtaining contact hours for renewing your certification, peer-to-peer sharing with colleagues—they’re all types of education that you can use to be the best version of the oncology nurse that you want to be for our patients,” Danya Garner, PhD, RN, OCN^®, CCRN-K, NPD-BC, ONS director-at-large from 2021–2024 and associate director of continuing professional education at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS^®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about how nurses can stay current in the evolving landscape of oncology. Garner presented on the topic during the 2022 ONS Bridge™ virtual conference in September 2022.

More than an activity for children, many people find that the cathartic art of coloring, particularly intricate patterns and swirling mandalas, may help them destress. The first adult coloring book was published in the 1960s, but adults began embracing the idea en mass in April 2015 when illustrator Johanna Basford was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. By the end of that year, 12 million adult coloring books were sold in the United States.

Poorer outcomes among males receiving BRAF or MEK inhibitors for melanoma may be related to an increase in androgen receptors, researchers discovered in study findings published in Nature.

After more than 93% of patients maintained nadir serum asparaginase activity in the therapy’s clinical trials, on June 30, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved asparaginase erwinia chrysanthemi (recombinant)–rywn (Rylaze^TM) for use as a component of a multiagent chemotherapeutic regimen for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients who have developed hypersensitivity to E. coli-derived asparaginase.

An eight-week online symptom self-management program, which can be facilitated by a nurse, significantly improves symptom burden, sense of control, and quality of life among patients with ovarian cancer. Researchers reported the evidence in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Cancer-related pain, whether from the disease or its treatments, is a distressing symptom that persists through survivorship. Pain diminishes patients’ quality of life and negatively affects their cancer-related outcomes.

Biologic agents or chemotherapies can trigger hypersensitivity reactions, which occur when a patient’s immune system identifies an agent as an antigen and initiates a complex reaction involving sensitization of T lymphocytes and macrophages, production of antibodies, and release of histamine. Developing and implementing a hypersensitivity kit containing all necessary medications and associated protocols allows nurses to immediately implement management when reactions occur.

Nurses’ consistent and correct use of genomics terminology is critical to reduce confusion and provide safe genomics care to patients and their families, especially when explaining the meaning of genomic tests or findings.

Caregivers spend an average of 30 hours per week caring for patients with metastatic prostate cancer, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Cancer and its treatments can affect a patient’s body in many ways, including sexual function. However, the historical evidence base is focused on cisgender men and their sexual health post-cancer treatment, with sexual health of women and LGBTQIA+ patients largely ignored. I, and many others, are working to change these disparities in research and practice.