After witnessing the exceptional nursing care his wife received as she battled and ultimately lost her life to ovarian cancer, Fred Flynn created the Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Fellowship in her memory, determined to not only raise the visibility of oncology nursing as a potential career path but also inspire many of the “best and brightest” undergraduate nursing students to enter the field. Five years ago, HUP became a strategic partner with Flynn, bringing the summer internship onboard. At this year’s closing ceremony, HUP celebrated its most recent group of Flynn fellows: Gabrielle Ramos and Leora Troy, from the Penn School of Nursing, and Hannah Snyder and Aine Sheehan from the Villanova University College of Nursing.
Divided into two important components, the eight-week fellowship “is a life-changing opportunity,” said Bette Mariani, PhD, RN, associate professor of Nursing at Villanova. First, it allows nursing students to directly observe the full continuum of oncology care, from the role of nurses on inpatient oncology units to their responsibilities in infusion, palliative care, radiation oncology and other areas of cancer treatment, as well as in the hospice environment. Second, it strengthens their knowledge of oncology research and helps them to better understand and appreciate the impact of an evidence-based nursing practice.
At the celebration, each of the fellows presented her evidence-based research project on a specific aspect of oncology nursing. Snyder discussed the use of music as a therapeutic intervention in cancer patients. Noting that listening to music has been shown to decrease feelings of anxiety and reduce pain in studies, she recommended that music be incorporated into a nurse’s practice, as an adjunctive method of symptom relief. “Its reliability and validity has been confirmed,” she said. “It’s a great step to keep moving forward.”
Sheehan reviewed the use of aromatherapy and essential oils to improve sleep quality in this patient population. Building on Penn Medicine’s policy on aromatherapy and essential oil, she recommended it (specifically lavender essential oil) for all oncology patients, educating patients and family members on its use and benefits, and including an “aromatherapy” section on EPIC as part of its patient education checklist for nurses to complete.
Troy’s project focused on the decrease in dignity — and the resulting distress — of cancer patients with active disease. Currently, there is no formal assessment of patient dignity. “Nurses focus on getting patients better but under the surface it’s a missing assessment that’s hard to put words to,” Troy said. She recommended the Patient Dignity Inventory be included in a cancer patient’s overall assessment, to discover and tackle issues that patients aren’t always able to communicate to their health care providers.
For many reasons — including not having easy access to a primary care physician and not adhering to treatment — cancer is the leading cause of death in those with severe mental illness. Based on many studies, integrated oncology and psychiatric care are needed to improve these outcomes. Ramos suggested nurses include a daily mental status exam of these patients in addition to regular physical assessments, and that they receive more education to ease comfort levels and help reduce the stigma for this population.
Flynn congratulated the fellows on their “fabulous presentations, the substance of your topics, quality of your research… and your enthusiasm.” He noted that the fellowship is having an impact at HUP. Of the 14 student nurses who completed the fellowship through 2018, nine have gone on to careers in oncology nursing, with seven coming back to HUP after receiving their nursing degrees.