An Interview with an Oncology Nurse

Kathy, a single mother of four and grandmother of two, is in her mid-forties. Her two older daughters are married, and her fifteen year old twin sons are still at home; plus her mother, who is 82, also lives with her. She works as an oncology nurse at a major hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She works three to four 12 hour shifts a week, not including the two hour daily commute driving approximately 120 miles a day to and from work. According to Webster.com oncology is the study of tumors, but this interview with Kathy provides a different definition as to what oncology means to a nurse.

Q. How long have you been a nurse and how long have you been an oncology nurse?

A. I have been a nurse for nine years. Six of those nine years have been in oncology.

Q. What do you like best about your job?

A. What I like best about my job is helping patients and their families. Most prognoses are poor but if I can help them cope and be comfortable through this trying time in their life, then I have had a good day. In my life I have had a family member with cancer so I feel I have input on the family side of this disease.

Q. What do you like least about your job?

A. The thing I like least about my job is trying to get resident MD’s, internists and non-floor staff to understand what nurses, patients and families go through. Empathy is the key to a successful oncology service. They are not just patients with a disease. They are real people with real feelings, thoughts, fears, and a need for validating their life up to the point when they might get the news that everybody dreads to hear, CANCER.

Q. Do you ever get depressed from your job? If so, what causes the depression? If so, does it affect your home life, and how?

A. My job is a depressing job. I am surrounded by death and sorrow on a daily basis. My depression does not come from those who have passed on but those who are left behind. I know that to cope with this void in one’s life is a difficult transition. This depression actually has affected my life in a positive way. I try to make every day count. I want no regrets for me or my family. I want my kids to look back and say you know mom was there for me and I was there for her.

Q. What does it take to become an oncology nurse?

A. As a nurse who has trained several students and floor nurses, the most important thing an oncology nurse needs is insight. A nurse who has had personal experience with cancer through a loved one or friend is the best person for the job. An understanding of what patients and families are going through is the key. Education and a desire to learn and educate others are essential to perform duties without regrets. With all the advancement in cancer research, keeping yourself educated can make you one of the best oncology nurses.

Q. What made you want to be an oncology nurse?

A. I have always wanted to be an oncology nurse. Besides my own personal experience (my father had cancer), it would have to be the personal experience I had as a child when my aunt died from cancer. I have never been able to forget how much cancer changed her physical appearance.

Q. What special traits or abilities does it take to be an oncology nurse?

A. Besides insight from personal experience, the ability to put things into perspective and realize it is the little things that matter, such as giving the patient a back rub, listening to them, and actively treating their pain and nausea. Every patient’s fear when they get a cancer diagnosis, besides dying, is pain and nausea followed by hair loss and changes in physical appearance. Strong spirituality and a belief in a higher power is the key for a nurse’s sanity. My patients also tell me a sense of humor or smile helps them get through the day. They want to forget and laugh just like healthy people.

Q. You work 12 hour shifts. Does this affect how you perform your duties and if so, how?

A. Twelve hour shifts, I find, are a blessing. It gives a nurse time to be a care giver first and a record keeper second. As the day goes on; the mornings are hectic but by afternoon things settle down for charting or getting to know your patients and their families. I have not noticed working a 12 hour shift to affect my performance in a negative way.

Q. We have heard there is a shortage of nurses. Do you agree? Is there a shortage in your field (oncology) or your place of employment?

A. I do believe there is a nursing shortage in my place of employment as well as nationwide. In the oncology field nurses come and go. Oncology nurses often get burned out from the emotional as well as the physical stress placed upon them.

Q. Describe your most difficult patient.

A. The most difficult patient to treat is a non-compliant patient. This patient will find fault in your performance no matter what you do to try to help them. When a nurse has a patient like this, they have just got to realize at the end of the day, that they did all they could.

Q. Describe your least difficult patient.

A. The least difficult patient is one who has come to terms with their diagnosis. They have a positive attitude no matter what the outcome. These patients are rare, but they do exist. I have had a few.

Q. Do you like being an oncology nurse and if so, why?

A. Why do I like being an oncology nurse? This is a question people often ask me. I really don’t know. It is just a good fit for me, like a key in a lock. The patients and the job I find inspiring and challenging. I am eager about being on the cutting edge of advancements in cancer treatments. I carry the hope for a cure and feel someday we will have such a cure. Successful treatments for specific cancers exist now that did not exist 10 years ago. Now that is a piece of history I am proud to be a part of, no matter how small. Self rewards I have mentioned throughout these questions. I believe it has made me a more rounded person that is able to put things in perspective in my own life. I don’t worry as much about what other people think. I am grateful for my family and my health. I find joy in small things given to us by God and I have a stronger desire to be the best I want to be.

Q. If you had to do it over again, would you become an oncology nurse or a nurse at all?

A. I have been in the medical field for 20 years, first as a nurse’s aide then as a registered nurse. I knew what I was getting into when I chose this profession. As for being an oncology nurse, it is a job I love. I can see myself in no other field.

Kathy’s answers prove that this job is not an easy one that can be done by anyone. Patients and families go through many changes, fears and emotions when a diagnosis of cancer has been given. An oncology nurse goes through these same changes, fears and emotions with them, over and over and over again. I believe an oncology nurse is one of the most courageous people in the world.