ONCOLOGY NURSING: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
Abstract
An oncology nurse is a registered nurse who provides comprehensive care for patients who have cancer. Oncology nurses work in a multi-disciplinary team in a variety of settings like indoor patients, outdoor setting, chemotherapy centre, bone marrow transplant unit, community outreach program and palliative centers. The primary roles of the oncology nurse is patient assessment, educating the patient and families, patients assessment, symptom management, supportive care, coordinating the care of cancer patient, administration of chemotherapy drugs and participating in research. Currently, cancer nurses must overcome many obstacles arising from clinical, organizational, and educational issues; including their low status, the limited scope of nursing practice, work overload in a hierarchical system, and cultural beliefs that view death and dying as taboo. It is high time that we acknowledge the merits of improving nursing education as an important strategy for enhancing nursing autonomy, quality of care, and outcomes for the increasing number of patients with cancer in low- and middle-income countries. Hospitals need to ensure a supportive ward culture and appropriate workload that will enable nurses to provide holistic care to patients. There is a need for institutions to provide communication skills training to their oncology nurses for navigating through challenging patient interactions; and to realign cancer nursing education, practice, and research to match demographic and epidemiological realities.
Keywords: Oncology nursing, cancer care, role, obstacles, strategies
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