Hanan Saca-Hazboun, RN, MSN, MSB

Hanan was born and grew up in Bethlehem. She finished her undergraduate study in nursing at Bethlehem University (Christian Brothers) in Palestinian Authority in 1985. She worked in different medical surgical specialties such as orthopedics, trauma intensive care, premature unit, and gastroenterology in Sacramento, CA. In 1996, after she completed her master in nursing degree at California State University, she moved to Bethlehem to work as a nursing undergraduate program lecturer at Bethlehem University. She has held this position for the past 10 years.

In addition to her educational responsibilities, Hanan has been a trainer for the Red Crescent (Palestinian Authority’s equivalent to the American Red Cross) and has coordinated the first Palestinian Advanced Workshop for Oncology Nursing and other workshops dealing with osteoporosis prevention, child abuse, and attention deficit disorder. She is also an EPEC-O (Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care) oncology trainer. She received a research grant from Bethlehem University when she conducted a study on nurses’ job satisfaction and burnout in Palestinian hospitals. Her numerous editing work with Anderson Continuing Education in Sacramento in oncology nursing and in nursing education make her a valuable addition to our SIG activities. Her new position in the SIG will enable her to pursue more publishing opportunities in ONS and share her experiences in the Middle East.

Ayda G. Nambayan, RN, DSN
Memphis, TN
Ayda.Nambayan@stjude.org

The International Outreach Program (IOP) is a humanitarian initiative from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. Its mission is to improve survival rates of children with catastrophic illnesses in countries around the world, particularly those with limited resources. IOP seeks to accomplish its mission through partnering with countries and using mentoring and consulting strategies related to clinical services, education and research.

Providing educational opportunities for healthcare workers (especially for nurses) in the partner countries is one of the program’s top initiatives. The Web site www.Cure4Kids.org serves as a platform to deliver most of the educational venues. The site currently has more than 600 medical seminars, several courses (including the newly released Web-based Pediatric Oncology Nursing Course [wbPONC]), and about 90 Web groups that discuss health issues on a regular basis via a Web conference.

The wbPONC was developed to provide support to the program’s on-site and face-to-face nursing courses. As the course evolved, the wbPONC became a comprehensive repository of information on pediatric oncology nursing that not only could support the live courses but also could stand independently on its own.

The course involves 14 modules designed to assist practicing nurses as they develop plans of care for children with cancer and their families. Thirteen of the modules contain several stand-alone, short documents that are enhanced by Web links and related Cure4Kids seminars. Each module also contains an open area that has thought-provoking questions on nursing issues related to the module topics.

Module 14 currently contains no information. This module is designed to provide nurses a place to contribute content about pediatric oncology nursing practice in their own country or world region. The developers expect that this module will provide the globalization of the content of this course.

Two Transcultural Nursing Issues SIG members are major contributors for the development of this course. As the curriculum and distance learning developer for the IOP, I developed the course and compiled the documents. Delia Baquiran, RN, MSN, MSB, SIG editor and coordinator-elect, served as a major content reviewer and editor for many of the documents.

The course is free to healthcare providers and can be accessed through www.Cure4Kids.org. Registration on Cure4Kids is also free to all healthcare providers. I invite everyone to visit Cure4Kids and not only use the course but also contribute content. This is an unfinished, ongoing course—our contributions can help create a learning opportunity for our colleagues.

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Message From the Coordinator
Consider Taking a Leadership Role in the SIG

Leah Cunningham, RN, MNEd
Pittsburgh, PA
cunningh@duq.edu

Greetings to the Transcultural Nursing Issues (TNI) SIG membership! It’s amazing how quickly time passes. As an educator, I live by semesters, so I now find myself in 2007 and the second semester of the academic year. The start and end of each semester tend to be extremely busy. Whatever, the “rhythm” of your lives happens to be, I extend to you my wishes for a happy, productive, and peace-filled 2007.

I would like to recognize the work of TNI SIG Coordinator-Elect Delia Baquiran, RN, MSN, MSB. She has been an incredible organizer and has held the newsletter together while orienting our new newsletter editor, Hanan Saca-Hazboun, RN, MSN, to her responsibilities. Living in this electronic age has provided us with the ability to have Hanan join us from Bethlehem, PA—PA as in Palestinian Authority, not Pennsylvania! I hope you will take some time to read about her in this newsletter.

The ONS 32nd Annual Congress is fast approaching, and I hope that many of you will be attending. Las Vegas promises to be a most exciting and rewarding venue. The pre-Congress and Congress sessions include some amazing topics. We anticipated several TNI-sponsored sessions and events, but we did not receive approval or funding. We haven’t given up—plans are in the works for 2008.

I just received some information about a most interesting organization, the National Multicultural Institute (NMCI). Its mission is to work with individuals, organizations, and communities in creating a society that is strengthened and empowered by its diversity. Through its programs, NMCI leads efforts to increase communication, understanding, and respect among diverse groups, and addresses important issues of multiculturalism facing our society. Its 24th Annual Diversity Leadership Development Institute will be held in Minneapolis, MN, on April 26–29, 2007, and a fall 2007 Diversity Leadership Development Institute is scheduled for November 8–11, 2007, in Arlington, VA. More information is available on the organization’s Web site at www.nmci.org. It would be wonderful to see some of our members attend.

At this year's Congress, Delia will be taking over as SIG coordinator. We are recruiting people interested in joining the TNI SIG leadership for the next couple of years. Nominations for coordinator-elect will be accepted this summer, and elections for the office will be held in January 2008. The new coordinator-elect will take office beginning with the 2008 Congress.

Remember that, as a SIG leader, you can enhance your professional resume and receive some nice perks to attend Congress, such as airfare and some hotel expenses, in addition to the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed to your profession. Please consider volunteering for this and future leadership positions with ONS and our SIG.

I hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter!

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A Word From the Editor
International Conferences Support Our Work as Nurses

Nurses at the UICC World Congress Click here for larger image

What wonderful work ONS is doing with oncology nurses in developing countries. ONS had given 24 nurses from different regions of the world the opportunity to attend the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) World Congress through educational grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, in partnership with ONS and the American Cancer Society. This has encouraged me to convey to you what two Turkish attendants of the UICC World Congress, Gulbeyaz Can, PhD, RN, and Semiha Akin, MSc, RN, revealed to me in depicting their wonderful experience over the days of the congress.

Nurses at the UICC World Congress Click here for larger image

Attending UICC World Congress was a really important opportunity and experience for us. Everything was well organized. In the evening of our arrival we were warmly welcomed by ONS members. On the first day, we attended the ONS symposium. Besides the information about new developments and practices in some American oncology centers, the presented topics were palliative care, complementary therapy, symptom management and safe handling of chemotherapy agents. We also had an opportunity to meet nurses and academics from many different countries and cultures. Sharing knowledge, opinions and experiences has increased our insight about oncology nursing and problems worldwide. During the rest of our stay, we attended the Congress sessions. The program and topics were well chosen and addressed the current needs. Due to the interesting variety of topics, we had difficulty choosing which sections to attend. The dinners organized by ONS were another opportunity for more sharing and learning. The city tours were also very enjoyable. We had many nurse friends worldwide. We also were granted a free one-year ONS membership; this made us very happy. We thank ONS for the fellowships and making it possible for us to attend the Congress.

Nurses at the UICC World Congress Click here for larger image

This statement reveals why holding such conferences is necessary. I, as any other nurse, share the same thoughts—it encompasses the giving part of nursing, regardless of what is happening around us. As a nurse, you always have an influence on someone’s heart.

The new government in Palestine is struggling to survive at a time when it is witnessing a total freeze on all its activity. This is caused by the comprehensive strike of public service employees, who had not received even one-third of their salaries since March 2006. Nurses also are working all shifts without compensation. Even though nurses are on strike, the government hospitals are operating at 30%–40% of their occupancy. Their work is with emergency cases, dialysis, and oncology units. Medical Director Issa Ja’nineh, MD, has described the situation as follows: "Doctors and nurses had not stopped giving the care to the emergency cases, dialysis patients, and the oncology patients. The oncology outpatient clinic, chemotherapy day care, and inpatient unit are in full force, and nurses are still reporting to work and giving care to these patients even though they are not getting the salaries." I think that serious attention has to be given to the workers in this field in particular. One way of fulfilling the needs analysis is through holding international meetings organized by UICC World Congress.

Articles of Interest
Transcultural Nursing Issues SIG Members May Enjoy These Recently Published Articles

Check out the Oncology Nursing Forum (ONF) for interesting articles about issues in transcultural nursing.

• "Breast Cancer Among Asian Americans: Is Acculturation Related to Health-Related Quality of Life?" by Jinsook Kim, PhD, MPH, DDS, Kimlin T. Ashing-Giwa, PhD, Marjorie Kagawa Singer, PhD, MA, MN, RN, and Judith S. Tejero, MHP (Vol. 33, pp. E90–E99)
• “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Modality Use and Beliefs Among African American Prostate Cancer Survivors” by Randy A. Jones, PhD, RN, Ann Gill Taylor, EdD, RN, FAAN, Cheryl Bourguignon, PhD, RN, Richard Steeves, PhD, FNP, FAAN, Gertrude Fraser, PhD, Marguerite Lippert, MD, Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, Holly Mathews, PhD, and Kerry Laing Kilbridge, MD, MSc (Vol. 34, pp. 359–364)
• "Bone Marrow Donation: Factors Influencing Intentions in African Americans" by Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow, PhD, RN, CS, and Gerald Bello, PhD (Vol. 34, pp. 369–377)

For access to the full-text versions of this and other ONF articles, visit the Publications area of the ONS Web site.

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