Join the Fight! Pediatric Oncology

Cancer is sadly something that kids are struggling with today. There are a lot of people working to help cure cancer in these kids and they are making amazing progress.

Going into the career path of pediatric oncology is difficult, so how can people do it? Candice Duffy, writing for curetoday.com, said she wanted to become a nurse because she wanted to become a part of the vision that “no child should die in the dawn of life. ”

She went on to explain “I love people. I love the fact that nursing isn't just caring for someone physically. It's a big job! It requires you to be holistic, to care for their body, mind and soul. I love being given the opportunity to take part in the healing process.”

To become a pediatric oncology nurse you must complete a registered nursing degree program. After that, you have to obtain a RN license. You have to gain experience in places in your field. If you want to become a pediatric nurse practitioner, you must continue your education and pursue a master's degree.

This field of work is making a big difference for children. According to NCBI “The outcome for children with cancer has improved significantly over the past 60 years, with greater than 80% of patients today becoming 5-year survivors.”

You can go to any college that offers this program. I am interested in University of Northwestern or Winona State University because they have really good nursing programs.

There has been many advancements in this field. According to apollomedicaljournal.net “Treatment of childhood cancer has been one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine. Today, up to 75% of children with access to optimal medical treatment are cured of cancer, with cure rates of some of the common cancers reaching up to 90%. This can largely be attributed to multimodality, multidisciplinary management. Childhood cancer has provided the most successful model for collaborative research integrated with clinical care and systematic application of evidence based medicine”

There are many classes to take to become a registered nurse. Choosingnursing.com says that classes schools require are basic nutrition, psychology, human anatomy, physiology, human development, microbiology, nursing science, pharmacology, and communication.

There are many people involved in this field including an anesthesiologist, case manager, chaplain, dermatologist, dietitian, discharge coordinator, licensed practical nurse, medical oncologist, neonatologist, nephrologist, neurosurgeon, nurse practitioner, nutritionist, occupational therapist, oncologist, oncology clinical nurse specialist, oncology social worker, pathologist, patient navigator, pediatric oncologist, and many more.

From asking Registered Nurses, the qualities in a person to be able to work in this field involve empathy, compassion, and being able to work well with young people. They told me that you shouldn’t have too much sympathy, because that can emotionally weigh you down.

A pediatric oncology nurse works at a hospital in a specialized oncology unit. They take care of children up to the age of 18, sometimes 21.

According to nursepractitionerschools.com, ¨On a daily basis, nurses will have to deal with patients that require surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, while recovering patients may have physical therapy, or other treatments to help aid recovery.

¨While nurse practitioners will not lead children in physical therapy, the responsibility to make sure that the patient’s various appointments and treatments are scheduled and organized may fall to them. As with most any nurse practitioner role, pediatric oncology NP’s will also be responsible for reviewing and updating charts for each of their patients.¨

¨Especially when it comes to chemotherapy, schedules can be quite regimented, with certain medications needing to start, stop, and overlap and certain times. The pace of a pediatric oncology unit is not as fast as that of, for example, an Emergency Room, but there can still be time pressures involved.¨

People might say that working in this field would be quite difficult due to being constantly surrounded by children that are in pain and possibly dying. The job can be stressful, but it also can be rewarding. Watching kids survive cancer is rewarding.

Pediatric Oncology would be a difficult career to go into, but it would be a rewarding job to do. Childhood cancer is something that sadly happens to some kids around the world, so we need caring people to take care of them.