TRANSCRIPT:

Christine Daneau Briscoe, MSN RN CPN

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Narrator

The role of the nurse has long been evolving and is now a crucial part to the patient care experience.

Christine Daneau Briscoe, MSN RN CPN

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Christine Daneau Briscoe, MSN RN CPN

When I  walk you know, you walk in these patient’s rooms and you’re kind of you know you’re walking into this parent’s kind of worst nightmare. You know, their patient their child has cancer. And when I walk into that room, you have that burden a little bit on your shoulders, but you also have a kid sitting in the bed that wants to be a kid. And they don’t really know what that means, their diagnosis means. They just know that they’re not home right now. And that actually, when I walk in the room and I see the kid, I just think I’m here and I’m and here’s a kid kid and I’m going to try to make a normal environment for them and play with them and, distract the fact that what what I’m actually doing. I think psychologically, I’m distracting myself from the fact that, that we’re dealing with a really hard illness and diagnosis.

Wendy Landier, PHD RN CPNP CPON

The nurses are really there as the voice of the children and the families. And we have nurses that are really the ones on the front line advocating for the kids and saying, no. We’re not gonna do a blood draw at 2AM when the patient’s outpatient. They’re not coming into the clinic for that. This is something that is not gonna be workable. So our nurses are really kind of where the rubber hits the road in terms of, you know, transforming the care from a protocol into reality of what that patient gets.

Stephanie O’neil

It’s our first time looking at the world in a different way through the eyes of a mom with a child that has cancer, and it’s really overwhelming. And the care staff, I would say most importantly, helps to make you feel like everything’s gonna be okay first and foremost. Oftentimes, the nurses are the first people and only people to ask how I’m doing and if I had anything to eat today and to remind me that I have to be healthy for him. So that’s probably the biggest thing.

Kathy Ruccione, PHD RN MPH CPON FAAN

I really feel in many ways being a pediatric Hemonc nurse is a calling. But it’s one that really requires a lot of support, mutual support. My mom was a nurse, and so I thought, you know, I’ll go to I’ll go 

Donna M. Doulton, BSN RN

My mom was a nurse, and so I thought, you know, I’ll go to I’ll go  to into nursing, and I’m so glad that I did. It has been a unique experience. I think it’s made me a better person. It’s not a job, it’s a it’s a privilege and  it’s a passion.

Narrator

Over the years, the nursing community has grown and flourished, and nurses have not only been a source of information and support for patients and their families, but for each other.

Jami Gatusso, MSN RN CPON

Being able to be with patients and families and interact with them and talk to them and be with them, sometimes it’s just being present there and not saying a single word just knowing that they’re you’ve got they’ve got you there. That is a gift. I think that we also rely on our colleagues to help support each other. You know it’s sometimes bad things happen or some child says something that just breaks your heart and you have to be able to pull it together to able to take care of that patient but then when you go back to your colleagues you can really rely on them and we do rely on each other a lot.

Sharon Bergeron, BSN RN CPON

I think it’s very important that, nurses mentor other nurses to, to push the field forward so that we always stay innovative. We always have that in to embrace that excitement of something new. It’s a very dynamic field. And even as a new nurse, I can still remember some of the things that I learned that I could take back to my institution and made it a better place. And I don’t just, like, you know, keep that information just to myself. I share it with my own colleagues because in numbers, we’re much more, effective and make such an impact, that we need to do that.

Casey Hooke, PHD APRN CNS CPON

Well, nurses are on the front lines of delivering care for children. And so as research informs us what’s the best treatment, it’s the nurse caring for patients that’s gonna deliver that therapy. And so I think not only do we do our own research, but we’re part of, the team that’s developing new treatments. And then, the nurses are delivering them and helping families learn about them.

Amy Newman, MSN RN CPNP CPHON

The nurse has the opportunity to listen and to be empathetic and to help clarify in this the for the parents this this information that, and and provide support, at a time when it’s really needed.

Kaye Schmidt, MA RN CPON NEA-BC

So when I started my career, we were in a pretty generalized area of nursing. I started in pediatrics. I took care of children between the ages of one to five years and every diagnosis you could think of. There was no specialization at that time. And today, where are we at? Not only are they all cared for in one specific area, but we have increased specialization within the field. So now we have nurses, nurse practitioners that specialize in hematology and they care for potentially only sickle cell patients or only hematology or hemophilia patients. In the oncology world, we have nurses that are just leukemia nurses or we have nurses that are just bone tumor nurses. So I think the complexity of the care, the fact that we’ve made great advances in the field, and that there’s just lots to learn has really led towards increased specialization so that all of our patients get the best care that they can.

Sharon Bergeron, BSN RN CPON

Now, we now know not one size fits all approach. It’s very, distinguishable based on how they present. As nurses, we, play a very active role in the patient education, and families come to us and ask, well, why do we do what we do? Why is it that we’re giving this particular therapy? And by embracing, that understanding, we can empower our families, but we can empower the nursing staff to be better, resources for the families as they go through  their cancer.

Narrator

Over forty years ago, a group of nurses caring for pediatric oncology patients realized the opportunity to better help each other and in turn their patients, and a dialogue started to develop a resource for the community.

Shirley Stagner, MSN ONP AOCNP

At the time we started, there were no organizations for pediatric oncology nursing. There were no journal for pediatric oncology nursing. There was hardly a journal for pediatric Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals, some people knew each other anyway, but we would run into each other, we would talk to each other. And then at some point, we started trying to have a meeting to say , anyone who’s interested in pediatric oncology, please come.

Dianne Fochtman, PHD RN CPNP CPON

We started out probably in the early seventies, meeting in conjunction with another health care provider group, and there was just a couple of us. But every year, it got to be more until we could actually form the p the Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses.

Gen Foley, MSN RN

When we started, the survival rate was nothing like what it is today. It was difficult on everybody who was in the field at that time. And that sense of satisfaction that we really believe we helped change that. We helped through our care of the patient, change the physical outcome, and I think we believe through our psychological care, we help make better experience whether the child live or die for the families.

Narrator

Building on the early success of the organization, which would eventually come to add the hematology subspecialty, its nurses came to define what it meant to be a good nurse, and in t urn to develop best practices for leading health care facilities around the globe.

Kaye Schmidt, MA RN CPON NEA-BC

Early on, the education on how you care for patients was fairly broad. APON recognized 10:11, twelve years ago that, there was probably a lot of opportunity to standardize education and preparation for nurses to provide, chemotherapy and care for patients undergoing, treatment for cancer. So when the APON, bio chemotherapy biotherapy provider curriculum was developed, hospitals had the choice of adopting that, and many hospitals across the country now use that.

Casey Hooke, PHD APRN CNS CPON

A good nurse, I think, first of all, has to have a passion for caring. And they have to be smart because there’s a lot of  critical thinking that goes into taking good care of patients and families.

Colleen Nixon, MSN RN CPHON

Somebody that’s willing to be compassionate, a good listener. I guess that you can put yourself in somebody else’s shoes to know what they’re experiencing and be able to empathize with those with those what’s going on in their life.

Narrator

Sharing lessons learned has helped pediatric oncology nurses across the globe to do a better job and ultimately to provide the smallest patients with a more comfortable experience.

Debbie Lafond, DNP PPCNP-BC CHPPN CPON

I have learned so much from the patients and families that I’ve cared for over the years. I’ve learned that they really make the best of every day, no matter what their circumstances APON colleagues, That they’re doing the same thing.

Christine Daneau Briscoe, MSN RN CPN

I think about the strength that kids have is just incredible. We see kids from infancy to their mid twenties going through, something that is just something very hard. And, some of my patients, the way they cope, was very eye opening to me on how how amazing they grasp life and, take every moment day by day.

Nurse 2

You ready? Ready to go? Yes. All set. Ready to go to the fall festival? Okay. Come here.

Shirley Stagner, MSN ONP AOCNP

I think that being in pediatric oncology, I’m gonna gonna cry, is very moving and is very satisfying, and I think it brings a lot of joy.

Stephanie O’neil

they told us we had to come back. We’re all just so sad. And, he was just crying a cry. But as a mom, you know, he’s just like, his heart’s broken. And, we were all just disappointed. And we came back up to the sixth floor, and it was, like, 07:00 at night. And there were probably eight nurses behind the desk there, and they all just started cheering and saying his name, and they just made us all feel like it was gonna be okay. And it was. I’m fine.