Posted by Erin Elphee on November 30, 2008
Greetings from Canada!
Sorry for the delay in getting on–line but I have just returned from a much needed, mind and soul replenishing vacation in Australia.
I am honoured to be involved in this blog experience and hope that I can bring a slightly different perspective to our discussions on oncology nursing. I think that at the core we deal with similar challenges and experiences but perhaps the availability of public, universal health care for everyone north of the border may alter the landscape and allow me to share a new perspective. I have just completed my Master of Nursing, an endeavour I undertook while continuing to work full time in the clinical setting with an acutely ill patient population. The past three years have been mentally and emotionally rewarding but I found myself physically and emotionally drained. In an attempt to finish my studies as quickly as I could I transformed holidays and vacations into days off for studying and writing. At the time I thought this was a brilliant and efficient use of my time. In hindsight, after spending weeks in a foreign country learning the culture and exploring both the known and hidden treasures it had to offer I can say that sequestering myself in my home office in front of a computer is no way to relax and refuel the soul!
I am refreshed and have returned to my position in the outpatient setting working with individuals and families living with lymphoma, chronic leukemias, myeloma and malignant hematologic conditions. I love my role more than I can describe but I find myself presently in a holding pattern trying to wait patiently until a new position becomes available that I can better utilize my new found knowledge and degree. This position will be new to me and I will find myself going from expert back to novice. I hope that in the coming months I can share my experience as I transition from staff nurse to clinical nurse specialist. I am thankful that through my graduate studies and employment I have found a mentor to help guide me through this new and exciting adventure!
Posted by Jennifer Mitchell on November 24, 2008
In my previous blog, I mentioned that networking should be an ongoing process for an oncology nurse, or any professional for that matter. In addition to being ongoing, networking should start early. Unfortunately, many people don’t start networking until they are looking for a new job. Effective networkers create contacts and maintain relationships while they are still employed. Some people will only contact members of their network when they need something making contacts fell used. I would recommend sending emails to maintain contact with your network and email or send thank you notes when contacts have helped you to thank them and let the contact know how the situation panned out. Along these lines, being a member of a network isn’t always about receiving information. It is also your responsibility to help people in your network by sharing advice and leads when you have something to offer.
Most people think about networking as an exclusive tool for future job opportunities. This isn’t necessarily so. Besides using networking as a way to advance your career or find a new position, networking can be a good source of support for everyday job concerns. For example, a staff nurse interested in research who aligns herself with other staff nurses with similar interest might develop a multi-site research project. Networking can help you flesh-out your go-to resources and establish a group of people who you can share ideas with. This is one of the great benefits of ONS national, local chapter, and SIG membership. ONS networks are great groups for both beginners and expert “networkers” because they’re already established groups with a level of involvement which depends entirely upon the participant.
Well, that’s all I have on networking for now. Besides ONS events, what are other places where you’ve successfully networked? What methods do you use to maintain your network?
Posted by Kari Wujcik on November 22, 2008
One thing that every nursing student deals with is if they are going to work with a “good” preceptor for the day in clinical. During my nursing school education, I have worked with a wide variety of preceptors. There are some that are really excellent teachers and others that are not. There are many different qualities that nurses should encompass in order to be a good preceptor. I think nurses should be interested in working with students and should them as a team member. After all, in a few short semesters, some of those student nurses will become future colleagues. Preceptors should be able to assess students’ abilities and have a little faith in those abilities. I also think preceptors should offer constructive criticism and positive feedback. Sometimes experienced nurses can make students feel as if they are stupid for not always remembering the things they have just learned. I can tell you from experience that having a bad day with a preceptor on a certain unit can make or break a students interest in that specific field of nursing. I have found that experienced preceptors are willing to ask students questions, help them find out the answers and then later in the day, quiz the students to see if they remembered the information. I think that teaching students in this way can help to alleviate anxiety and boost the students’ confidence.
It is a very scary thing to be placed in the hospital and be expected to know how to do everything you have been taught and exposed to for a brief period of time in lab. I believe that when you have a good experience with a preceptor, a student can walk away from the situation excited with feelings that reassure the student that they really are going to be a good nurse. I think it is very important for every single nurse to remember their first day of clinical and how scary it was to walk in a patient’s room for the first time. I think a lot of nurses forget that they too were once students. We all had to wear the stark white scrubs that made us stand out and look ridiculous. However, we all came into this profession for the most part to help others. Helping others is really what this is all about.
Posted by Jennifer Mitchell on November 21, 2008
Hello, everyone. I am excited and honored to be among such a dynamic group of contributors, and look forward to participating in the virtual conversations spurred by contributors’ comments.
2008 has been full of wonderful career and networking opportunities, many of which resulted from my involvement in my local chapter of ONS and the new contacts I’ve made through chapter activities. Until this year, I perceived networking as more complicated and mystifying than it really is. Networking is an important but easy principle. In “Network with Others to Assist You in Your Career,” an article in the October 2008 issue of ONS Connect, Elisa Becze describes a network as “a group of people with whom you maintain relationships who may one day help you in your professional life.”
So what is the difference between a conversation between oncology professionals and networking? In my mind, the main thing that separates networking from a random conversation is follow-up. Prior to this year, I would meet new oncology professionals, add their business card to a rolodex-type file, and the process would stop there. I now know that taking a new person’s contact information is not networking. Networking begins when I actually contact the person. Networking continues and is successful when I keep in touch with contacts regularly through phone calls or emails. An easy method which works for me is to just email the person and say “Just checking in. How are things with __________ (the company/group who may benefit your professional life in the future)?”
I believe that networking is crucial and should be an ongoing process for anyone who plans to advance his or her career in the future. I look forward to posting more comments on this topic in the future. Until then, what are your thoughts on networking? What has worked (or not worked) for you?
Posted by Kimberly George on November 20, 2008
Hello again to all! I apologize for my absence the last few days as I have returned to work and the many emails that go along with being "out of the office" for any length of time. I should be speaking with several of you over the next few weeks regarding the 2009 IOL Planning Team - very exciting!!
It is pretty late here and I have an "out-of-town" family member funeral to attend, so I won't type too much, but I would like to get some feedback from readers: Does your facility use exam or chemo gloves and how are those gloves chosen?
Blog soon! :)
K
Posted by Jeanine Gordon on November 17, 2008
Greetings,
I would like to say welcome and hello to my fellow oncology nurse bloggers. I am both grateful and proud to be a blog contributor. My hope is that our exchanges will generate stimulating and thought provoking conversations that will ultimately help us to provide superior patient care and improve nursing practice. I look forward to reading and writing with you all.
I thought long and hard about what I would write for my first blog and decided to choose the topic based on an article that ran in the Wall Street Journal last week. I have to be honest and say that my decision was a little biased based upon the fact that I appeared in the photo that accompanied the article J. Check out the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122608904288009265.html
Yup, that's me in the front with the big smile and the IV pole. We were role playing and I was acting as a patient (a very eye opening experience by the way). The article discusses how my organization collaborated with the design firm IDEO to get fresh new management ideas. I had the great privilege of serving as one of the nurse representatives working to design a new chemotherapy infusion site. I was very excited about the project and my potential to contribute. That excitement was quickly replaced with anxiety and palpitations after hearing some of the innovative ideas that were proposed to be incorporated in the space. Some of which included patients taking yoga and cooking classes and exercising on treadmills while receiving their infusions. Without even considering I immediately said to the group that these ideas were not feasible or safe from a nursing standpoint. I was consumed with everything that could potentially go wrong; hypersensitivity reactions, extravasations, and falls to name a few.
IDEO on the other hand was convinced that we could make some of these ideas work without compromising safety. After all, being innovative is what they specialize in so one nurse disagreeing was not going to stop them. They pushed me to think outside the box, and to take risks (with much coercion I might add). Long story short, it wasn’t an easy thing to do but the group lite an innovative spark within me and allowed me to voice my patient safety concerns every step of the way while still pushing the innovation envelope. Although the plans for the site are not final, the drafts include some ideas that I would have never considered doing in the past. The group compromised to maintain safety while still fostering innovation and change. It was a great learning experience and I am thankful to the wonderful IDEO consultants and my organization’s Strategic Planning & Innovation group for helping to light the innovative spark within me. Now I want to light the same spark within others.
Let me know which innovative ideas you have implemented in the past or are interested in implementing that would improve patient care and experience without compromising safety?
Posted by ONS on November 14, 2008
Posted by ONS on November 14, 2008
The following photos are from the photo shoot we had at the wonderful Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The shoot went very well, and we would like to thank the staff and patients for being so supportive.
Here are some photos of the
APN Diagnostic Sessions.
APN Opening:
Chemo Bio Course:
Poster Sessions:
All of these photos were taken Thursday, and we will have video of the APN Diagnostic Sessions soon.
Posted by ONS on November 14, 2008
Hello to everyone and welcome to day 1 of Re:Connect! I am "reporting to you LIVE" from IOL - Seattle. It is amazing to watch so many people at work to organize a conference like IOL.
I am one of the planning team members this year. Our team met earlier today and took a tour of the convention center. It is beautiful - lots of windows/natural sunlight. Our team is made up of members from around the country. Karyl, our team leader, is from Billings, Montana; Martha, our home city leader, lives about 20 minutes from the convention center; Ellen and Donna live in Hershey and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Katen hails from North Plainfield, New Jersey; and me, from Wichita Falls, Texas.
The wonderful ladies from ONS get to organize our activities and get us back on track! They are fantastic!
So, after our morning planning meeting and tour, several of us went to Virginia Mason where Martha will be starting in a new position bright and early Monday morning. We are extremely impressed with their processes and outcomes management endeavors. I will sign-off for now and hopefully, I can post a few pics later on......
Posted by Kari Wujcik on November 13, 2008
Hello everyone, I just want to start out by saying that I am honored to be apart of this blog experience. I am a senior in nursing school at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. It has been a long road to get to this place in my life, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I am graduating in December and I am so excited for what the future of my nursing career holds. I first heard of nursing through my mother, Dr. Debra Wujcik. She has worked in Oncology for over 30 years. Her love for patients and her passion to help find a cure for cancer has instilled in me the desire to do something in life that is meaningful and rewarding. I started my college experience at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. This environment was not conducive for my learning and after three years, I transferred to Belmont University to begin nursing school. Throughout my clinical experiences over the last couple years, I have developed an affinity for the pediatric population. I just found out that I will be working at Monroe Carell Junior Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN. I will be a part of the Pediatric Nurse Residency Program. Programs such as this are becoming the standard for how hospitals are hiring new graduate nurses. The particular program trains new employees by having an an 8 week orientation period that consists of two days a week of classes and two days of clinical. Nurse resident rotate through different units in the hospital with the guidance of a preceptor. Throughout this blog, I hope to make others aware of issues that senior nursing students experience and the transition to become a graduate nurse.
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