Congress Abstracts 2005

69

ONCOLOGY NURSING RETREAT: CREATING A COMMUNITY FOR CANCER NURSING PRACTICE. Ellen Fitzgerald, RN, MS, Barbara Cashavelly, RN, MS, Joanne LaFrancesca, RN, MS, Catherine Mannix, RN, BSN, and Jackie Somerville, RN, MS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.

Oncology patients and families are cared for in many settings in a large academic medical center. A major challenge facing nurses today is to create an environment of care which appears seamless to patients and families. Nurses play a key role in ensuring consistent standards and practices as well as facilitating communication and collaboration among many care settings.

The Nursing leadership group identified the need to bring together nurses in all settings caring for oncology patients and families. Goals included: develop a shared vision for oncology nursing practice, provide opportunities for staff in different settings to network and build relationships, facilitate communication about shared patients, and set the stage to develop standards of care across all settings.

Six Oncology Nursing Retreats have been held beginning in October 2002. Early retreats focused on identifying what united us as oncology nurses. The use of clinical narratives allowed participants to identify common practice themes. Key values and vision for the oncology nursing service were discussed and participants identified future goals. Workgroups were formed outside of the retreat structure to refine the vision statement and develop an action plan for the priority item of communication. Workgroups reported back at the next retreat. Other accomplishments include the development of a consistent curriculum for orientation to oncology and evaluating best practices for chemotherapy safety and handling. The latest retreats have focused on the development of an Oncology Nursing Practice Committee to establish, communicate and evaluate standards of oncology nursing practice.

A written evaluation was conducted of the participants attending each retreat. An on line survey was done to solicit feedback from a larger group. The overwhelming majority of respondants identified the opportunity to come together as oncology nurses as the major benefit. The opportunity to identify goals, participate in developing plans and seeing outcomes from the work were also rated highly.

The benefits of the Oncology Nursing Retreats have been building relationships among nurses in different care settings, increased collaboration among practice areas, and identification and development of consistent standards and practices. In addition, nurses have become engaged in the process of identifying and setting goals as an oncology nursing community.