Nurses can benefit greatly from joining professional nursing organization. Not only does it look good on a resume to be a member of a professional organization, it is also good for one’s career. Professional nursing organizations offer career building opportunities through continuing education, scholarships, grants and certification. They also offer networking opportunities, and opportunities to advocate for patients and healthcare changes that will improve patient care. While professional organizations may cost to join, they offer lots of benefits and are well worth the money. One especially good nurses organization is the Oncology Nurses Society where oncology nurses can network with other oncology nurses, advance their career and advocate for the patients they treat.
The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) is a professional membership organization for oncology nurses. ONS is strong in career building, networking, policy advocacy, quality improvement, teaching and mentoring, and global initiatives. The area of oncology is important in medicine and nursing today because it is rapidly advancing and finding new ways to treat cancer, which then allows patients to live longer. With the advances and rapid changes in the field, it is good as an oncology nurse to have someone to discuss the changes with, know where to go when looking for resources, and know that there is a professional organization to turn to for advocacy.
The ONS (2019) mission is: “to advance excellence in oncology nursing and quality cancer care” (ONS, 2019). The vision for ONS is “to lead transformation of cancer care” (ONS, 2019). Core values of the ONS (2019) include innovation, excellence and advocacy. They advocate on behalf of people with cancer to ensure not only the quantity of their life but the quality as well. They also advocate for respect and recognition, access to education, safe working environments and fair reimbursements for oncology nurses. They also advocate for public health policy (ONS, 2019).
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