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Episode 425: How AI Can Help Healthcare Organizations Improve the Cancer Experience

Release Date: 07/24/2026

Episode 432: Long-Term Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“It’s a chronic disease. It never goes away for some people, and so therefore it has these periods of remission where it’s really quiet and well controlled. Then there can be periods of flares where you’re actively engaged in treatment or it’s impacting other pieces. There’s this feeling patients have of, ‘When am I going to have that flare?’ You know, this anticipatory anxiety of, ‘When are things going to be done differently?’ or ‘When do I need to change?’” ONS member Caitlin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer...

Episode 431: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Urinary Obstruction

The ONS Podcast

“Think about all the important things our kidneys do for the body. Those things are compromised. If we have excess buildup of toxins and waste in the body, you’re having problems with fluid reabsorption. Then you have also problems with electrolytes not being balanced. Then in turn, you have ongoing shutdown of systems. So the cardiopulmonary system gets compromise. Your circulatory system then gets compromised. And then all the things in the body that depend upon ongoing circulatory flow are then causing major resets in the system that need to be addressed,” ONS member Brenda S....

Episode 430: Leadership Unlocked: Is It Your Time to Serve?

The ONS Podcast

“If you are considering board service, I would say take the leap. Start with your local chapter. It will give you some valuable skills that will help prepare you when you are applying for your national level. And I always say, if you want to do it, just do it because what’s the worst that can happen? They can say no, but that doesn’t mean that you will never serve on a board. I always tell people delayed is not denied,” Cassandra Green, DNP, RN, OCN®, ONS member and past president of the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC) Board of Directors, told Evelyn Wempe, DNP,...

Episode 429: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: CNS Cancers

The ONS Podcast

“They’re really worried that radiation is going to be painful. So they come in for that first day of treatment very anxious. With our patients with brain cancer, we’re using the masks on the table, and those masks are very tight and hold their heads very, very still. So they’ll be very worried about being claustrophobic. We may start out the first day or two with a little bit of [lorazepam]. And they’ll come to me and they’ll say, ‘This really hasn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be,’” ONS member Catherine McCluskey, BSN, RN, OCN®, ROCN™, radiation oncology...

Episode 428: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatment Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“Measurable residual disease is where I think the terminology fits best in that, it is intended to measure the amount of cancer cells that are present in the blood or bone marrow at the time the sample was collected. We can identify one cancer cell in a million. Where that can be really valuable is when we start to think about the duration of treatments and the response to some of our treatments,” ONS member Caitlin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical...

Episode 427: Pharmacology 101: Resistance Pathways

The ONS Podcast

“A good way of thinking about this is this is the survival of the fittest clone. There could be a portion of a cancer that naturally has some resistance or ability to survive a particular drug. And over time, as the other cells around it are dying off, that particular clone is able to replicate and continue to survive in the face of that drug therapy and eventually take over as being the fittest clone. At that point, we’re often seeing disease progression,” Danielle Roman, PharmD, BCOP, manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute in Pittsburgh,...

Episode 426: Tools to Support Patients and Nurses Through Medical Trauma in Oncology

The ONS Podcast

“When people with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] get quite avoidant—and that can be expressed in so many different ways—the implications can be really profound. I think an important invitation to oncologists and oncology nurses and primary care providers who care for people battling cancer is let’s explore what's underneath these avoidant behaviors. Is it a very practical thing? Or is it that underneath this avoidant behavior is really profound fear?” James C. Jackson, PsyD, research professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, told Lenise Taylor, MN,...

Episode 425: How AI Can Help Healthcare Organizations Improve the Cancer Experience

The ONS Podcast

Episode 424: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: Cancers of the Pelvis

The ONS Podcast

“Think about what organs lie in the radiation field, and anything that lies in that radiation field is likely going to have some potential temporary—hopefully temporary—side effects. If you think about the pelvis, the things that live in there are the bladder, urethra, some bowel, rectum, reproductive organs, skin, some lymph nodes. And so, all of those things could potentially have associated side effects,” ONS member Kayla Kafka-Peterson, BSN, RN, ROCN™, nurse navigator and leader in the brachytherapy and peri-anesthesia programs at UCLA Health, in Los Angeles, CA, told Lenise...

Episode 423: Pharmacology 101: Interaction Pathways

The ONS Podcast

“When we think of drug interactions, specifically, the National Cancer Institute actually defines this as a change in the way a drug acts in the body when taken with certain other drugs, herbals, or foods or when taken with certain medical conditions. Drug interactions may cause the drug to either be more or less effective or cause effects on the body that are not expected,” Carissa Ganihong, PharmD, BCOP, oncology and bone marrow transplantation clinical pharmacist at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology...

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“In oncology specifically, where care is complex, artificial intelligence (AI) can really synthesize large volumes of clinical information, flag risks such as treatment complications, and support adherence to evidence-based pathways. For nurses specifically, this enables them more time for direct patient care, clinical judgment, and care coordination, and really practice to the top of their license while reducing repetitive time and administrative tasks,” Jenn Frith, DNP, RN, OCN^®, NE-BC, associate vice president of clinical operations at Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, NC, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS. Weimer spoke with Frith and Emily Norboge, director of clinical and research informatics at Duke Cancer Institute, about how AI can help healthcare organizations improve the cancer experience.

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 July 24, 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 the use of artificial intelligence in oncology nursing practice.

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

Norboge: “Our AI voice agent has a series of workflows that it can execute. ... If a patient needs help with medical paperwork, the agent will walk the patient through how to do that paperwork. If a patient has a question that they need sent to their provider, it can document that and then send a message to the provider. There’s a series of workflows so it can route to scheduling. It can answer information about test results that is compliant with our policy around test results. The goal of that agent is that it will handle all of those administrative-type tasks that don’t necessarily require a nurse to fill.” TS 5:44

Norboge: “When [patients] call the nurse triage line, the nurse will have to say, ‘I understand you want your test results. I can contact your provider and have them reach out to you about your results.’ But that’s kind of where it ends. What we worked out with the agent is if a patient calls and says, ‘I really want my test results,’ they will in a very nice, standard way, say something similar. You know, ‘I’m not authorized to discuss your test results with you, but I’d be happy to send a message to your provider and ask them to call you.’ But then the agent goes one step further and says, ‘Are you experiencing anxiety about your test results? If so, I can transfer you to the nurse to discuss support for a potential referral to family medical therapy if you would like help managing that anxiety.’ In a clear, helpful way, it can define and help a patient with their needs and not just have a standard of ‘this is our policy and I can’t share it with you.’” TS 11:14

Frith: “Really, transparency is the key. The patient should understand that AI is used more as an enhancement, but not to replace the human connection. That’s not the goal. The nurses can explain that the tools will help ensure accuracy, timeliness, and safety while allowing more time for the direct interaction of the nurse. I think framing AI as an additional layer of support rather than a decision maker helps build trust. And I think maintaining strong communication and presence at the bedside just reinforces that care remains fundamentally human.” TS 15:32

Frith: “I think AI in oncology is going to continue to advance in our predictive analytics, personal care planning, and probably real-time decision support. I think we’ll see a greater integration into symptom management, some early detection of complications, and longitudinal care coordination across our settings. I think nurses will continue to increasingly use AI to anticipate patient needs and prioritize care. I think the role of the nurse won’t diminish. Rather, it will become more elevated in allowing them to practice to scope of practice.” TS 19:58

Frith: “AI represents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen oncology nursing practice by reducing burden and enhancing the clinical insight. It needs to be a very thoughtful implementation. We talked about having strong governance and continued investment in the nursing workforce. I want to reinforce that oncology care remains deeply human, and AI should only be viewed as a tool that enables the nurses to do what they do best, which I feel is deliver safe, compassionate, and high-quality specialized care to our most vulnerable patients.” TS 27:31

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