The Center for Innovation, an ONS team focused on developing new resources and applications to meet the diverse needs of oncology nurses now and in the future, released some exciting products in 2020. Among these was ONS On-Call™, an oncology-specific decision support tool that guides standardized, evidence-based symptom assessments and leverages the proprietary evidence-based resources of ONS with patient-reported symptoms.
ONS also launched five clinical practice guidelines for managing cancer treatment-related side effects, with corresponding systematic reviews. These resources can be used by nurses and other oncology healthcare professionals, patients, and policy makers to improve the care of patients with cancer; to better address patient needs, the development teams included patients to shape the content. ONS Guidelines meet the criteria for trustworthy guidelines established by the National Academies and considered equity, benefits versus harm, accessibility, feasibility, and cost of care. The guidelines follow:
ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Hot Flashes
ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Lymphedema
ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Skin Toxicity
ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Constipation
ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Radiodermatitis
The ONS Center for Innovation hosted the inaugural ONS Hackathon™ assembling oncology nurses and industry and technology professionals to collaborate, solve problems, and design potential products for the future. One of the challenges addressed during the ONS Hackathon was how to increase a patient’s ability to obtain oncology health services capable of bringing about the best possible health outcomes. The winners of the ONS Hackathon were Meghan O. Coleman, DNP, CRNP, and Alison McDaniel, BSN, RN, OCN® for their project, Evidence-Based Quality Understanding in Pathology (EQUIP).
ONS remained a highly reputable resource for local, state, and national media, not only surrounding the pandemic, but also related to more typical topics, such as caring for the whole patient, how oncology nurses advocate for themselves and patients, and advances in oncology nursing practice. ONS and its leaders and members were interviewed and featured in hundreds of media outlets, including Medscape Medical News, Oncology Nurse Advisor, Yahoo Finance, and Market Watch.
The ONS Center for Advocacy and Health Policy had to pivot quickly to online efforts, accommodating the new normal in 2020 while continuing to advocate for oncology nurses to policy makers on the state and national levels.
In addition to member initiatives, the ONS Center for Advocacy and Health Policy: