Episode 366: ONS 50th Anniversary: Generations of Nurses Keep Oncology in the Family
Release Date: 06/06/2025
Episode 370: Colorectal Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities
The ONS Podcast
“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 screening and where screening can come in and make better outcomes,” ONS member Kris Mathey, DNP, APRN-CNP, AOCNP®, gastrointestinal medical oncology nurse practitioner at The James Cancer Hospital of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Jaime Weimer, MSN,...
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Episode 369: Lung Cancer Survivorship Considerations for Nurses
The ONS Podcast
“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 better. And so no matter who they are, they have every chance of surviving long term for this,” ONS member Beth Sandy, MSN, CRNP, thoracic medical oncology nurse practitioner at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology...
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Episode 368: Best Practices for Challenging Patient Conversations in Metastatic Breast Cancer
The ONS Podcast
“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 rapidly changing time in oncology, and so there’s just so much hope right now that we can offer patients,” ONS member Kristi Orbaugh, MSN, NP, AOCN®, AOCNP®, nurse practitioner at Community Hospital North Cancer Center in Indianapolis, IN, told Jaime Weimer, MSN,...
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Episode 367: Pharmacology 101: PARP Inhibitors
The ONS Podcast
Episode 367: Pharmacology 101: PARP Inhibitors “We know that in cells that are proliferating very quickly, including cancer cells, single-strand DNA breaks are very common. When that happens, these breaks are often repaired by the PARP enzyme, and the cells can continue their replication process. If we block PARP, that repair cannot happen. So in blocking that, these single-strand breaks then lead to double-strand breaks, which ultimately is leading to cell apoptosis,” Danielle Roman, PharmD, BCOP, manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute in...
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Episode 366: ONS 50th Anniversary: Generations of Nurses Keep Oncology in the Family
The ONS Podcast
“[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
“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 proton beam therapy to try to help minimize radiation exposure to healthy tissues to minimize patient risk for secondary cancers,” ONS member Andrea Matsumoto, DNP, AGACNP-BC, AOCNP®, radiation oncology nurse practitioner at Henry Ford Health in Detroit, MI, told Jaime...
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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
“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 just so important now that, particularly for lung cancer, you have to be well versed on all of these,” ONS member Beth Sandy, MSN, CRNP, thoracic medical oncology nurse practitioner at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology...
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Episode 362: Pharmacology 101: MET Inhibitors
The ONS Podcast
“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 really good marker because it’s found in many, many different types of cancers, so it makes it what we call kind of a nice actionable mutation,” ONS member Marianne Davies, DNP, ACNP, AOCNP®, FAAN, senior oncology nurse practitioner at Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Haven, CT, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS,...
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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,”...
info_outline“[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 committee, during a conversation about families in nursing. Burger spoke with Carolina, her mother Lissette Gomez-Rios, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC, OCN®, BMTCN®, and her brother Carlos Rios, BSN, RN, BMTCN®, about how having multiple nurses in their family has affected them personally and professionally.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Episode Notes
- This episode is not eligible for NCPD.
- ONS Podcast™ episodes:
- ONS Voice articles:
- ONS Nurse Well-Being Learning Library
- Oncology Nursing Foundation Resiliency Resources
- Connie Henke Yarbro Oncology Nursing History Center
To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].
Highlights From This Episode
Lissette: “Being in the oncology nursing as a family, when I feel the necessity to talk to them, they listen to me. They pay attention, and we help each other to cope, especially when there is a loss of our patients, so we help each other. We are understanding. We give them compassion and the advice that we need.” TS 6:51
Carlos: I remember growing up—and [my mom] would always be in school and in the healthcare field, so I knew growing up I wanted to be in the healthcare field. She was the one that guided me into going to nursing because at a certain point, I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing. She guided me, and once I started doing nursing, this has been the career I want to do, I want to continue doing. I’m very grateful for her guiding me into nursing.” TS 9:48
Carolina: “Anytime I had a question I would ask them. They would always help me out, make sure I really understood. It would actually be a little funny because sometimes they would overexplain, and I was a little overwhelmed, and I would have to be like, ‘OK, let’s dial it back. Let’s get back to the basics.’” TS 14:22