The ONS Podcast

“Colorectal cancer treatment is not just about eliminating a disease. It’s about preserving life quality and empowering patients through every phase. So I think nurses are really at the forefront that we can do that in the oncology nursing space. So from early detection to survivorship, the journey is deeply personal. Precision medicine, compassionate care, and informed decision-making are reshaping outcomes. Treatment’s just not a...

“Next-generation sequencing, or NGS, can be used to help us determine if the patient has specific biomarkers we can identify and use to target for treatment. Certain findings can tell us if a particular treatment might work for that patient, and we can see if there are any genetic variants we might have a biomarker targeted age...

“The proteasome itself, it really helps us unfold or get rid of misfolded proteins or degradations of different cells. We used to have garbage disposals in our sinks, and we used to put food product in there. If your garbage disposal is clogged, then everythi...

“We want to make sure that nurses, have opportunities both in our local communities as well as international communities, to engage in courageous dialog with others who may think or look different than we do and whose culture or language may also be different. The difference is what brings us together and allows us to h...

“The five-year relative survival rate for localized, or cancer that is confined to the colon or the rectum, is 91% for colon cancer and 90% for rectal cancer. Distant, metastasized to other organs—the five-year survival rate is 13% for colon and 18% for rectal cancer. So that really shows you the huge difference in scre...

“Just remember that these patients, these are human beings who had lung cancer. It’s a scary disease. And we don’t want to just say, ‘Oh, well, that’s a horrible disease. They probably won’t do well.’ These patients are living longer. Our treatments are bette...

“That’s what metastatic breast cancer looks like now—patients can live an extended period of time. And sometimes I think we forget to cheer for stable disease. I tell patients they can live with weeds in their garden; they just can’t let the weeds take over their garden. And today we don’t have a cure. We live in a rapi...

Episode 367: Pharmacology 101: PARP Inhibitors

“[My mom] would always be very inspirational whenever I would see her studying so long. And when she finally got to be a nurse, I always admired her vocation and compassion with her patients. She would always go above and beyond for all of her patients. I also got inspired a lot by my brother, as well, just seeing how p...

“From a radiation standpoint, the biggest thing we’re looking at is the treatment site, the dosage, and the way the radiation has been delivered. There are different ways that we can focus radiation using methods such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, flattening radiation beams, and ...

“Everyone will probably say this, but it is so true. Do not cram the night before the exam. The most important thing the night before the exam is to get a good night’s sleep. You might be so nervous. You’re like, ‘I can get any new information that matters right before the exam,’ but you can’t. Any information that you know you w...

“A lot of other disease sites, they have some targeted therapies, they have some immunotherapies [IO]. In lung cancer, we have it all. We have chemo. We have IO. We have targeted therapies. We have bispecific T-cell engagers. We have orals, IVs. I think it’s ...

“The signaling and that binding of the MET and the HGF help, in a downstream way, lead to cell proliferation, cell motility, survival, angiogenesis, and also invasion—so all of those key cancer hallmarks. And because of it being on an epithelial cell, it’s a ...

“We spent time today discussing all the ways that owners can have a positive impact on career growth, whether you’re a bedside nurse or just in teaching, research, hospital leadership. More than career growth, I see ONS as kind of a barrier to burnout and a c...

“Everyone’s brain is extremely heterogenic, so it’s different. You can put five of us in a room; we can all have the same diagnosis of a [glioblastoma multiforme], but all of ours can be different. They’re highly aggressive biologically. It’s a small area in ...

Episode 359: Lung Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities

“It’s been known for quite a while that [KRAS] is a mutation that leads to cancer development, but for really over four decades, researchers couldn’t figure out a way to target it. And so, it was often considered something that was undruggable. But all of thi...

“There have been many changes since the ’70s that have shaped the nurse’s role in administering chemo, and in supporting patients. The major change early on was the transition from that of nurses mixing chemo to that of pharmacists. Regulatory agencies like NIOSH and OSHA defined chemotherapy as hazardous drugs, and professional organizations became involved, leading to the publication of the joint ASCO and ONS Standards of Safe Ha...