Episode 348: Breast Cancer Diagnostic Considerations for Nurses
Release Date: 01/31/2025
Episode 367: Pharmacology 101: PARP Inhibitors
The ONS Podcast
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Episode 366: ONS 50th Anniversary: Generations of Nurses Keep Oncology in the Family
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“[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 passionate he was for caring for his patients for the families as well, and helping them deal with the any grief or loss that they were experiencing, Carolina Rios, MSN, RN, CPhT, told Valerie Burger, RN, MA, MS, OCN®, CPN, member of the ONS 50th anniversary planning...
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Episode 365: Radiation-Associated Secondary Cancers
The ONS Podcast
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Episode 364: How to Prepare for a Nursing Examination
The ONS Podcast
“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 will have gotten in the time that you spent studying already. Really, you have to trust yourself,” Talia Lapidus, BSN, RN, professional staff nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at UPMC in Pittsburgh, PA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS,...
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Episode 363: Lung Cancer Treatment Considerations for Nurses
The ONS Podcast
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Episode 362: Pharmacology 101: MET Inhibitors
The ONS Podcast
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Episode 361: ONS 50th Anniversary: The Value of ONS Membership in Advancing the Oncology Nursing Profession
The ONS Podcast
“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 catalyst for professional self-care. I think that no matter what aspect of oncology care you’re involved in, it is a difficult and complex specialty. And I think with that can come a lot of challenges and tough days, and ONS brings a sense of community to that and, specifically, a community that is pushing cancer care forward,”...
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Episode 360: An Overview of Brain Malignancies for Oncology Nurses
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Episode 359: Lung Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities
The ONS Podcast
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Episode 358: Pharmacology 101: KRAS Inhibitors
The ONS Podcast
“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 this changed recently. So about four years ago, in 2021, we had the approval of the first KRAS inhibitor. So it’s specifically a KRAS G12C inhibitor known as sotorasib,” Danielle Roman, PharmD, BCOP, manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN,...
info_outline“We know that some women are going to get called back. And it’s just because usually they can’t see something clearly enough. And so in most cases, those women are going to get cleared with one or two images, and they’re going to say, ‘Oh, we compressed that better, we checked it with an ultrasound, we’re fine.’ That woman can go ahead and go. But we don’t want to miss those early breast cancers,” Suzanne Mahon, DNS, RN, AOCN®, AGN-BC, FAAN, professor emeritus at Saint Louis University in Missouri, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about what oncology nurses need to know about breast cancer diagnosis.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by January 31, 2027. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to breast cancer diagnostic considerations.
Episode Notes
- Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.
- Previous ONS Podcast™ site-specific episodes: Episode 345: Breast Cancer Screening, Detection, and Disparities
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- ONS Biomarker Database results for breast cancer
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- National Comprehensive Cancer Network
- National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer—Patient Version
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Highlights From This Episode
“When a woman gets a callback, that is incredibly anxiety provoking, because they’re very scared and they don’t know what it means. And I think that’s a place where oncology nurses can remind—if it’s patients or friends who are asking—that just because you have a call back, doesn’t mean you have a malignancy.” TS 8:16
“We also know that when we call somebody back, that’s very scary and anxiety provoking. And we don’t want to subject women to unnecessary anxiety and stress through the procedure. And if it’s too stressful, they won’t come back again. That is actually a big harm that we don’t want to occur. That’s considered an acceptable amount. So we know that some women are going to get called back, and it’s just because usually they can’t see something clearly enough.” TS 11:26
“I think one of the most important things is to really help that woman understand the biopsy report. So now everybody, with most of the electronic medical records, that woman seeing that biopsy result—maybe before her provider is seeing it, depending on whether they get a chance to call that individual. But, you know, they could get a notification in their medical record, or a new report is available, and they can click on there and they could be looking at something that is very scary, not necessarily a good time, you know, like they’re getting ready to do something. And so that is a problem overall with sometimes getting bad news in oncology.” TS 15:09
“Sometimes it’s really good [for patients to bring] someone who can just be that set of ears or who can answer those questions, who’s emotionally involved but maybe not so emotionally involved, if that makes sense. And I think that that is something we can really encourage people to identify that person who’s going to really be able to support them.” TS 16:42
“When we approach a pathology report, the patient, you know, if they open that on their own, they’re just going to see breast carcinoma, or they aren’t going to look at all of the details of it. They can be quite overwhelming to look at. But I think that it’s important to kind of take the patient through it, step by step, and realize that it’s often a case of repeated measures—that you might do it and then you might do it again the next day or a day later.” TS 20:55
“Breast cancer care has changed so much over the past few decades. And I think people forget, you know, I’ve been in the business a long time, but years ago, everybody kind of got the same treatment if they got diagnosed. And we now understand so much about breast cancer treatment, but I think that has come on the shoulders of so, so, so many women who have enrolled in clinical trials to help us understand pathology better, to help us understand the impact of certain treatments. And so I think, first of all, we need to thank those women who have generously contributed to this base of knowledge. And it’s a place where those clinical trials have really made a difference.” TS 35:46