Posting With a Purpose: Improving Social Media Strategies to Communicate With Younger Generations.

The presence of four generations in the workplace and professional associations, paired with the advent of social media outlets as a dominant form of communication, suggests opportunities for improving communication strategies to better appeal to younger generations. This process improvement initiative sought to improve communication processes within a local chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society by using more diverse posting strategies that would speak to members' professional needs and included strategies encouraging members to view and engage with posts.

Cancer biology and implications for practice.

The media seem to announce a new scientific discovery related to cancer daily. Oncology nurses are challenged to keep up with the explosion of new knowledge and to understand how it ultimately relates to the care of patients with cancer. A framework for classifying new knowledge can be useful as nurses seek to understand the biology of cancer and its related implications for practice. To understand the molecular roots of cancer, healthcare practitioners specializing in cancer care require insight into genes, their messages, and the proteins produced from those messages, as well as the new tools of molecular biology.

The biology of cancer genetics.

OBJECTIVES: To review cancer biology and associated genetic change. DATA SOURCES: Professional journals, texts, monographs, and Internet websites. CONCLUSION: Several types of genetic damage occur in cancer cells: activation of protooncogenes into oncogenes that give cells an abnormal growth advantage; inactivation of tumor suppressor genes that would normally slow or stop abnormal cell growth; the bypass of genes that cause aberrant cells to die by apoptosis; the ability to establish vasculature, and the ability to override genes that regulate cell senescence. The end result of accumulated genetic errors is cells that can reproduce without restriction, invade local tissues, and ultimately, establish distant metastases. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Identification of the genetic changes in cancer cells and of the proteins that these changes affect promises to provide diagnostic and prognostic markers as well as molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. It is critical that nurses have a basic understanding of cell biology and genetics so they may better comprehend the unfolding changes in medicine to best serve patients and families.

Professional organizations and their role in advocacy.

OBJECTIVES: To review the role of professional organizations in advocacy using the ONS as a paradigm. DATA SOURCES: Professional journals, organization publications, personal experiences, and internet websites. CONCLUSIONS: Professional organizations are a crucial component of the legislative process as they seek to develop and implement sound public policy. The ONS and other organizations have realized that the work each group does individually is often more effective when the groups collaborate with others possessing the same agendas and priorities. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: As the professional organization for nurses in cancer care, ONS has an active engagement in the establishment of health policy that will have an impact on nursing and cancer care. To be successful in the public policy arena, ONS must not only be aware of current issues at both the state and national levels but also must teach its members how to advocate effectively for issues that affect cancer care.