The Oncology Nursing Podcast Oncology Nursing Society

“I think the reality is that we as humans are having a human experience, some of which is incredible and some of which is terrible. And to deny ourselves the opportunity to feel any of those emotions would be to deny our own human experience. And so processing feelings, and I think the bigger ones in particular, like grief, especially in the work that we do, it’s not only good to do, but it’s part of just what it means to, I think, be a human,” Ann Konkoly, MBA, MSN, APRN-CNM, chief executive officer of Authentic Koaching LLC and Kultivate Women’s Health LLC, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about processing grief in a healthcare context.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 
Earn 1.0 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by June 7, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to processing grief.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 264: Stop the Stressors and Improve Your Mental Health as a Nurse Episode 236: Coping With Grief Episode 187: The Critical Need for Well-Being and Resiliency and How to Practice ONS Voice articles: Writing Condolence Cards Supports Nurses as Well as Deceased Patients’ Families When Grief Goes Beyond Burnout, Organizations Must Intervene Peer Groups Offer a Safe Space for Oncology Nurses to Share Lived Experiences Critical Event Debriefings Can Reduce Oncology Nurses’ Risk of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout Moral Injury and Trauma in Nursing: What You’re Feeling Is More Than Compassion Fatigue, but You’re Not Alone Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance With These ONS Member-Tested Techniques Involve All Populations in the Nurse Well-Being Conversation Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Complicated Grief: Risk Factors, Interventions, and Resources for Oncology Nurses Songs for the Soul: A Program to Address a Nurse's Grief A Concept Analysis of Nurses’ Grief Helping Nurses Cope With Grief and Compassion Fatigue: An Educational Intervention ONS Nurse Well-Being Learning Library ONS Huddle Card: Moral Resilience American Association of Colleges of Nursing: End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Nurses Living the Good Life podcast Tara Brach: RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) Technique Books mentioned in this episode: Permission to Feel by Mark Brackett Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown Take Back Your Brain by Kara Loewentheil Feelings Wheel 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
“Processing is just what we do with these big feelings or these small feelings that come up and how we work through them. And it really depends on the individual and what coping tools and mechanisms that they use. But usually for a lot of people, what we see is that when there is some sort of feeling—like grief—that comes along, one of the most important things that we can do is just to, number one, acknowledge that we are having some sort of a feeling and to then subsequently name it.” TS 2:05
“The brain, usually the limbic system, is driven by these three main things that it wants you to do at all times: It wants you to seek ple

“Transfusion safety is really a registered nurse activity, and I just continue to reiterate the blessing of nursing assessment, getting those vitals before the transfusion, and then monitoring them closely and stopping the transfusion if they have a reaction, because that’s really an assessment, and we can’t delegate that to nonlicensed staff. And so that’s really why we just celebrate that nurses have such a great role in transfusion safety,” Renee LeBlanc, BSN, RN, manager of the infusion services office at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about administration of plasma and cryoprecipitate.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 
Earn 0.25 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by May 31, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to plasma and cryoprecipitate administration.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 234: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura Episode 228: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation Episode 196: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Bleeding and Thrombosis Episode 176: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Cytokine Release Syndrome ONS Voice articles: Nursing Considerations for Adverse Events From CAR T-Cell Therapy Manage Thrombosis in Patients With Cancer ONS courses: Essentials in Oncologic Emergencies for the Advanced Practice Provider Oncologic Emergencies ONS book: Understanding and Managing Oncologic Emergencies: A Resource for Nurses (third edition) Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: STAT: Cytokine Release Syndrome ONS Huddle Cards Cytokine Release Syndrome Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation AABB (Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies, formerly American Association of Blood Banks) American Association of Clinical Oncology Blood Bank Guy (Joe Chaffin, MD) Joint Commission: Patient Blood Management Certification Review Process Guide 2021 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
“Plasma is indicated for massive transfusions and emergent reversal of warfarin therapy–related intracranial hemorrhage. Nurses may also see plasma ordered pre-op for multiple coagulation deficiencies or factor XI deficiency.” TS 2:58
“Surgical centers performing procedures with large-volume blood loss would be a prime location for staff to be experts in transfusing plasma and cryo. Nurses caring for patients with cytokine release syndrome may be familiar with monitoring for hypofibrinogenemia. Cryoprecipitate in this setting may be given more prophylactically than for a patient who’s actively bleeding or having a procedure.” TS 6:48
“Plasma coagulation factors have a short half-life. Transfusing as close to the procedure will ensure the highest level of factor activity at the time of the procedure. Nurses can ensure best outcomes through care coordination and timing the transfusions as close to the procedure as possible. So we don’t want to start transfusing plasma at midnight if the factors are going to be expiring and their procedure isn’t until 9:00 in the

“Of all the eight different pulmonary toxicities you and I have talked about over these two different podcasts, they’re all very different etiologies and treatments. So, we went everywhere from infection and good stewardship with antibiotics to pulmonary GVHD to diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. And I think that’s what’s the hardest part for us as nurses. It’s not just one thing that’s causing it, and there’s multiple different ways to treat these things,” Beth Sandy, MSN, CRNP, thoracic medical oncology nurse practitioner at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about pulmonary toxicities in cancer treatment.
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 myoutcomes.ons.org by May 24, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to pulmonary complications in people with cancer.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 295: Cancer Symptom Management Basics: Pulmonary Embolism, Pneumonitis, and Pleural Effusion Episode 212: When Cancer Care Gets Complex: Those Other Oncologic Emergencies Episode 206: Graft-Versus-Host Disease: Biomarkers and Beyond Oncologic Emergencies 101 series ONS Voice articles: Pneumonitis With Immunotherapy Treatment The Case of the Post-Transplant Pulmonary Problem How Inhaled Cannabis May Contribute to Pulmonary Toxicity in Patients With Cancer ONS courses: Essentials in Oncologic Emergencies for the Advanced Practice Provider Oncologic Emergencies Treatment and Symptom Management—Oncology RN ONS books: Understanding and Managing Oncologic Emergencies: A Resource for Nurses (third edition) Clinical Manual for the Oncology Advanced Practice Nurse (fourth edition) Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Influenza Adherence Tool Kit: Implementation and Evaluation Among Allogeneic Hematopoietic Transplantation Recipients Oncology Nursing Forum articles: Community Respiratory Virus Infection in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients and Household Member Characteristics Emergence of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Multifactorial Model of Dyspnea in Patients With Cancer ONS Huddle Cards: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Proton therapy Radiation Sepsis ONS Guidelines™ and Symptom Interventions: Dyspnea American Cancer Society patient resources: Shortness of Breath Infections in People With Cancer American Lung Association 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
“[Intensity-modulated radiation therapy] is a type of radiation that can really take into account certain movements. And this is particularly important with the lungs, because we can’t necessarily have patients hold their breath for a long period of time, so the chest rises and falls and the heart beats while you're trying to do radiation to the lungs. So with IMRT, they can simulate that, so that the beam is going to follow that specific movement in that patient. That’s really helpful because then, hopefully, we’re going to keep that radiation dose mostly on cancer

“I think a virtual nurse can have the same sort of presence that a bedside nurse does. I like to think of a virtual nurse as pulling up a virtual chair next to that patient and spending time to ask questions and engage with them,” Laura Gartner, DNP, MS, RN, NEA-BC, associate chief nursing informatics officer for inpatient shared services and north region at Jefferson Health in the Philadelphia, PA, area told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about virtual nursing care.
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 myoutcomes.ons.org by May 17, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to virtual nursing.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 282: Telehealth-Based Oncology Palliative Care Episode 136: Nurse Innovators Use Telehealth to Improve Adult and Pediatric Symptom Reporting Episode 109: Is Telehealth the Future of Cancer Care? ONS Voice articles: How’s Your Video Telehealth ‘Webside Manner’? Innovative Solutions to Maximize Oncology Nurse Staffing During a Nursing Shortage Personalized Patient Education: Ensure Effective, Inclusive, and Equitable Patient Education With These Five Strategies Telehealth: The Future Is Now for Patient-Centered Care ONS book: Telephone Triage for Oncology Nurses (third edition) Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Nursing Telemedicine Educational Encounters: Improved Patient Satisfaction in Radiation Therapy Clinics Oncology Nurse Navigation: Expansion of the Navigator Role Through Telehealth Telehealth Use in Rural North Carolina Counties: Perceptions Among Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Telemedicine Versus Clinic Visit: A Pilot Study of Patient Satisfaction and Recall of Diet and Exercise Recommendations From Survivorship Care Plans Oncology Nursing Forum articles: A Telemedicine-Delivered Nursing Intervention for Cancer-Related Distress in Rural Survivors Breast Cancer Survivors' Satisfaction and Information Recall of Telehealth Survivorship Care Plan Appointments During the COVID-19 Pandemic Rural Cancer Survivors' Perceptions of a Nurse-Led Telehealth Intervention to Manage Cancer-Related Distress Telenursing Interventions for Patients With Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy: A Scoping Review ONS Clinical Practice Resource: Racial Disparities in Cancer Care: Telehealth and Clinical Trial Options Jefferson Health press release: Jefferson Health Launches Virtual Nurse Program 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
“I think that the virtual nurse plays a really important role in nurse staffing shortages. With this shortage, we need to get creative and think outside the box so that we can facilitate nurse wellness, work-life balance, and satisfaction and make our hospitals the place that nurses want to work. I firmly believe that nothing can replace the physical touch, but there are so many things a nurse does every day that can be done by somebody remotely that can reduce the workload of that bedside nurse.” TS 3:28
“About eight nurses between these two floors have volunteered to take on this role as a virtual

“Chemotherapy exposure during the first trimester is contraindicated and increases the risk of spontaneous abortion, fetal death, and major congenital malformations. Second- and third-trimester exposure may affect some body systems still developing and can still result in fetal growth restriction, low birth weight, and preterm labor. Yet, I do want to stress that pregnancy can remain a possibility,” Kelsey Miller, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, OCN®, clinical nurse specialist in oncology and infusion therapy at Reading Hospital in West Reading, PA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about policies and procedures for pregnancy testing during cancer treatment.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 
Earn 0.25 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by May 10, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to pregnancy screening procedures during cancer treatment.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 217: Support Pregnant and Postpartum Patients During Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Episode 208: How to Have Fertility Preservation Conversations With Your Patients ONS Voice article: The Case of the Pregnancy Predicament ONS book: Oncology Nurse Navigation: Delivering Patient-Centered Care Across the Continuum (second edition) Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Pregnancy and Cancer Treatment: Developing a Standardized Testing Policy and Procedure Unintended Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of Contraception Use and Counseling in Women With Cancer ONS Huddle Cards Fertility Preservation Sexuality ONS Congress® abstract: System Approach to Fertility Preservation and Pregnancy Status During Active Cancer Treatment (by Kelsey Miller and Ainsley Hartman) ECHO program (Enriching Communication Skills for Health Professionals in Oncofertility) Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network article: Pregnancy Screening in Patients With Cancer National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines: Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology 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
“It’s really crucial to identify [pregnancy] prior to treatment, as this should be considered a patient safety ‘never’ event. We know that exposure to chemotherapy or radiation can cause mutagenic changes in reproductive cells and teratogenic effects in a developing fetus. Women of childbearing potential should have a documented pregnancy test prior to beginning cancer treatment due to the adverse effects of chemotherapy and radiation on a developing fetus.” TS 1:42
“We had a fertility risk checklist that was based off American Society of Clinical Oncology standards, that was not fully operationalized nor built into physician workflows. The checklist was a way of documenting that risks of infertility, fertility preservation, and contraception was discussed, as well as an attestation that referral to a reproductive endocrinologist was made if needed. I had a physician partner at the time who said the only way to get the providers to fill out this checklist is to make it a hard stop, so that’s what we did. The fertility risk chec

Episode 310: Pharmacology 101: Androgen Receptor Inhibitors and Antiandrogens
“The things that I think creep up are things that unfortunately are quite common, and that’s hot flashes. I’ve had patients say that those are just overwhelming, and they want to go off therapy because of it. So I think talking about pharmacologic management, as well as lifestyle management, of hot flashes, are equally as important,” Rowena “Moe” Schwartz, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, professor of pharmacy practice at James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about androgen receptor inhibitor and antiandrogen drug classes.
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 myoutcomes.ons.org by May 3, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to androgen receptor inhibitors and antiandrogens.
Episode Notes 
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Pharmacology 101 series Episode 242: Oncology Pharmacology 2023: Today’s Treatments and Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs Episode 194: Sex Is a Component of Patient-Centered Care Episode 113: Manage Cancer-Related Hot Flashes With ONS Guidelines™ ONS Voice articles: Oncology Drug Reference Sheet: Darolutamide Oncology Drug Reference Sheet: Relugolix Genetic Disorder Reference Sheet: HOXB13 Sexual Considerations for Patients With Cancer Nursing Considerations for Prostate Cancer Survivorship Care Exercise Before ADT Treatment Reduces Rate of Side Effects ONS books: Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice (second edition) Clinical Guide to Antineoplastic Therapy: A Chemotherapy Handbook (fourth edition) Oncology Nursing Forum articles: An Exploratory Study of Cognitive Function and Central Adiposity in Men Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer Management of Androgen Deprivation Therapy–Associated Hot Flashes in Men With Prostate Cancer Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Hot Flashes: Clinical Summary of the ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment-Related Hot Flashes in Women With Breast Cancer and Men With Prostate Cancer Hot Flashes: Common Side Effect Genitourinary Distress: Common Side Effect ONS Guidelines™ and Symptom Interventions Fatigue Hot Flashes Oral Anticancer Medication ONS Huddle Cards: Altered Body Image Hormone Therapy Sexuality ONS Cancer of the Genitourinary Tract Learning Library Cancer Research article: Studies on Prostatic Cancer. I. The Effect of Castration, of Estrogen and of Androgen Injection on Serum Phosphatases in Metastatic Carcinoma of the Prostate 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
“The androgen deprivation therapy is either orchiectomy, which we tend not to use as much anymore; LHRH agonists, meaning that they act like LHRH…and then now LHRH antagonists are taking an increased role because we now have an oral drug that is an LHRH antagonist.” TS 3:44
“When you give an LHRH agonist, you initially have an increase in testosterone, but over time you cause a decrease in the ability of th