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Episode 394: Prostate Cancer Survivorship Considerations for Nurses

Release Date: 12/19/2025

Episode 407: Pharmacology 101: CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy

The ONS Podcast

“You want to try to act quickly and be able to know what the pathways are for appropriate escalating when a patient is having symptoms that are reflective of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or neurotoxicity. These toxicities are very manageable and treatable when recognized early. To summarize, choosing the right patient, knowing the toxicity profile for each product, and acting early is really what helps to prevent severe outcomes with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy,” Maribel Pereiras, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, clinical pharmacy specialist at the John Theurer Cancer Center at...

Episode 406: Drug Resistance Biomarkers and Their Impact on Cancer Treatment Choices

The ONS Podcast

“Our goal of precision oncology has been to shift to tailored therapies that can help to improve treatment efficacy and ultimately improve patient outcomes. Resistance biomarker testing can help the care team to detect these genomic changes that the tumor may have acquired during therapy that makes the cells resistant to therapy. This information can be extremely helpful when we’re talking about making choices about second-line or subsequent-line therapy,” ONS member Danielle Fournier, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, AOCNP®, advanced practice RN at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer...

Episode 405: Long-Term Multiple Myeloma Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“The disease is increasingly managed as a chronic condition rather than a diagnosis with an immediate terminal outcome. Particularly, with earlier and more effective and sustained treatment options, we can make this disease a very chronic, long-term, livable condition. I want to make sure that patients are aware that this is not a death sentence. This is something that patients can live with for the long term,” Ann McNeill, RN, MSN, APN, nurse practitioner at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®,...

Episode 404: Tailor Patient Treatment Education for Non-Oncology Indications

The ONS Podcast

“We print education sheets that we have, and we say, ‘Just ignore this part that says cancer. You’re getting this med but for a different indication.’ And then you have to really point out what our goals of care are. You’re using the information that, as oncology nurses, we like and love, but we’re having to cross it out and say, ‘Just read this portion and just do this here.’ And that can be challenging for the nurse and probably confusing for the patient,” ONS member Brandy Thornberry, RN, OCN®, outpatient infusion and VAD supervisor at Logan Health in Kalispell, MT,...

Episode 403: Pharmacology 101: Checkpoint Inhibitors

The ONS Podcast

“Because the premise of immune checkpoint blockade centers around elevating the immune function, we should always take a great deal of caution around those patients who have high immune risks. Those include patients with autoimmune disorders. That’s one of our biggest questions that we ask, usually every consult that we’re seeing with solid tumor. ‘Do you have any history of autoimmune disorders? Tell me a little bit more about it. Is it being treated? What are your symptoms like?’ And then also patients who have undergone organ transplants. Now, interestingly, this does include stem...

Episode 402: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: Head and Neck Cancer

The ONS Podcast

“It’s important to clarify that most patients will experience and at least some side effects—and often several. So prevention really means reducing severity, complications, and long-term impact rather than avoiding side effects altogether. This process starts before radiation begins and continues throughout the treatment and includes dental evaluation, baseline swallowing assessments, and thorough patient education,” ONS member Astrid Amoresano, RN, OCN®, lead oncology nurse specialist at New York Proton Center in New York, NY, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager...

Episode 401: Multiple Myeloma Treatment Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“You also want to deal with patient preferences. We do want to get their disease under control. We want to make them live a long, good quality of life. But do they want to come to the clinic once a week? Is it a far distance? Is geography a problem? Do they prefer not taking oral chemotherapies at home? We have to think about what the patient’s preferences are to some degree and kind of incorporate that in our decision-making plan for treatments for relapsed and refractory myeloma,” Ann McNeill, RN, MSN, APN, nurse practitioner at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Jersey Shore University...

Episode 400: Pharmacology 101: Radioimmunoconjugates

The ONS Podcast

“Radioimmunoconjugates work through a dual mechanism that combines immunologic targeting with localized radiation delivery. The monoclonal antibody components bind to specific tumor-associated antigens such as CD20, expressed on malignant B cells. Once found, the attached radioisotope delivers beta radiation directly to the tumor, causing DNA damage and cell death,” Sabrina Enoch, MSN, RN, OCN®, CNMT, NMTCB (CT), theranostics clinical specialist at Highlands Oncology in Rogers, AR, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a...

Episode 399: National Hazardous Drug Exposure Registry

The ONS Podcast

“The United States does not have a national cancer registry. We have a bunch of state registries. Some of those registries do collaborate and share information, but the issue is the registries that do exist typically do not report cancer by occupation. So, we cannot get our arms around the potential work-relatedness of the health outcome given the current way the state registries collect information. What we’re trying to set up, is a way to make what is currently an invisible risk, visible,” ONS member Melissa McDiarmid, MD, MPH, DABT, professor of medicine and epidemiology and public...

Episode 398: An Overview of Multiple Myeloma for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“[Multiple myeloma] is very treatable, very manageable, but right now it is still considered an incurable disease. So, patients are on this journey with myeloma for the long term. It’s very important for us to realize that during their journey, we will see them repeatedly. They are going to be part of our work family. They will be with us for a while. I think it’s our job to be their advocate. To be really focused on not just the disease, but periodically assessing that financial burden and psychosocial aspect,” Ann McNeill, RN, MSN, APN, nurse practitioner at the John Theurer Cancer...

More Episodes

“The thought of recurrence is also a psychosocial issue for our patients. They’re being monitored very closely for five years, so there’s always that thought in the back of their head, ‘What if the cancer comes back? What are the next steps? What am I going to do next?’ It’s really important that we have conversations with patients and their families about where they’re at, what we’re looking for, and reassure them that we’ll be with them during this journey and help them through whatever next steps happen,” ONS member Clara Beaver, DNP, RN, AOCNS^®, ACNS-BC, manager of clinical education and clinical nurse specialist at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about prostate cancer survivorship considerations for nurses.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by December 19, 2026. 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 survivorship nursing considerations for people with prostate cancer.

Episode Notes

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 pubONSVoice@ons.org.

Highlights From This Episode

“Some of the most common late side effects [are] urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction issues. For urinary effects, it can include urgency and frequency, some incontinence, or a weak or slow urine stream that frequently bothers the patient after treatment. Bowel effects can happen such as constipation, diarrhea, or inflammation of the rectum, which can lead to bleeding or mucus discharge. And then erectile dysfunction is another side effect that patients with prostate cancer often deal with and have to work with their physicians on, depending on what they want with that function. Fatigue, lymphedema, and skin changes can also occur after treatment.” TS 1:40

“If we can catch [prostate cancer] and take care of it at an early stage, overall survival is about 90%. If the disease is localized, it’s 99%. If we can take out the prostate, radiate the prostate, we can do something with that—localized, 99% survival rate. If there’s regional metastasis, it’s about 90%. And if there’s distant metastasis, it’s about 30% survival.” TS 3:55

“Prostate cancer recurs in about 20%–30% of patients within the first five years of initial treatment. ... There’s not a lot of research out there that shows what can reduce risk, but what has been shown to be effective is regular exercise, quitting smoking, and eating a healthy diet. ... It’s really important for our patients to understand the importance of having follow-up visits so that we can catch a recurrence quickly instead of waiting years down the road. Prostate cancer is usually a slow-growing disease, so if we can pick it up quickly in those revisits, we can start another treatment for the patient.” TS 6:00

“Sexuality is not something many people are comfortable discussing, but we really need to talk with patients and let them know that this is normal. It is normal that you may have some sexual dysfunction. It’s normal that you may not feel the way you did before. Talk to us about it, let us know where you’re at, let us know what your goals are, because there are a lot of things we can do. There are medications we can use for impedance. There are devices and implants available to help the patient to support them and give them whatever their goal is for their sexuality.” TS 9:41

“Providing survivorship care plans are important for these patients—something that can be sent off to everyone else that’s caring for that patient. You have your primary care physician, urologist, oncologist, the oncology nurse, maybe a navigator, and [others] who are looking into this patient. So, giving that patient a survivor care plan and putting it with their files to include a summary of the treatment received, because most of the time a patient is not going to remember exactly what they received. A suggested schedule for follow-up exams—so again, if a primary care provider is not used to dealing with a patient with prostate cancer, they have something to go off of. A schedule of other tests they may need in the future including screening for other types of cancer. Are they a smoker? Do they need lung screening? Do they need any other screenings related to types of cancers? And then a list of possible late or long-term side effects.” TS 15:16

“I think a lot of people know about the long-term sexual effects, but what we don’t really talk about is the effect that it has on the patient’s self-image. How they define themselves, how they look, their body image, their self-image. It’s really important that we continue to discuss it with patients and make them comfortable when discussing their sexuality and their goals for sexuality. They may be having these self-image issues after treatment that they’re just not telling us about and that can affect their quality of life.” TS 18:38

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