2013 Pre-Symposium Nursing Seminar

POGO Celebrates Pediatric Oncology Nursing Excellence with Bruna DiMonte

Posted on April 3, 2018 by admin

Bruna DiMonte, POGO Senior Database Administrator and Co-Privacy Officer, and pediatric oncology nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children

Bruna DiMonte, RN, BScN, has been a pediatric oncology nurse for 33 years and has spent 25 of those working double duty at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and with POGO as the Senior Database Administrator and Co-Privacy Officer. Every April, oncology nurses celebrate their profession, this year with the theme “Excellence in Oncology: Our Patients, Our Passion.” Here’s what Bruna shared about nursing excellence, her passion for her patients and more.

Excellence in Pediatric Oncology Nursing
Excellence in oncology nursing is about demonstrating a high level of compassion, empathy and pediatric oncology speciality expertise in caring for kids with cancer and their families. Nurses incorporate evidence-based literature and research in our clinical practice, and we are excellent resources to allied health teams and the field of pediatric oncology. We advocate for resources to meet the challenging needs of kids with cancer, families, pediatric oncology nursing and the childhood cancer care system.

Her Passion for Her Patients and Her Work as an Oncology Nurse
My career has been devoted to working on the frontlines and in doing so, I’ve always strived to provide compassionate care to kids with cancer. While it’s hard to choose, I would say that one of the most rewarding things has been finding time in a day to play with a child and distract them from the complex cancer treatment I still have to provide. Every day brings a new set of challenges and however a child’s story plays out, I can only hope I’m making a positive difference in their life and their family’s.

POGO Values Pediatric Oncology Nurses
I have had the pleasure of helping POGO support pediatric oncology nurses in making valuable contributions to the pediatric oncology community. I am the staff representative on the POGO Nursing Committee and have worked with Committee members on such special projects as POGO guidance documents about telephone practices (telepractice) and the safe handling of antineoplastic agents. The Committee has also had the opportunity to contribute to publications, abstracts, presentations at conferences of health organizations like the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON), The International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP), and POGO education events like AfterCare Education Day, the Annual Multidisciplinary Symposium on Childhood Cancer and Nursing Pre-Symposia education events. Through POGO, pediatric oncology nurses also have the opportunity to advocate on a policy level, and in the past actively supported POGO’s recommendation of the nurse coordinator position and acquisition of the Interlink Nursing program. POGO also proactively seeks preceptorships with nursing student placements at the POGO office and with the POGO Interlink Nurses at their hospitals.

Other Career Achievements of which Bruna is Most Proud
This is another difficult question as I have had many wonderful opportunities to support novice pediatric oncology nurses, as well as data managers and researchers. I hope I have helped empower others to provide excellent clinical care. And, in collaborating with researchers using POGONIS data for epidemiological research and data analysis, I hope I have adequately supported their policy planning and program development goals for pediatric oncology, and inspired them to collect accurate provincial population data for these needs.

2013 Pre-Symposium Seminar

Posted on March 4, 2014 by admin

The 2013 Pre-Symposium seminar focused on Innovation in Pediatric Oncology Nursing, and aimed to provide nurses with the latest information on innovations that are revolutionizing pediatric cancer in a number of areas, including: MIBG therapy, innovative outpatient chemotherapy, blood and marrow transplantation, and many others. Over 90 nurses and other health providers attended the day.

VIEW THE PROGRAM

NOTE: The content of each presentation below captures the unedited information and opinions presented by the speakers. Please note that the information contained in the presentations was current at the time it was presented – there may be further information in subsequent literature. Listed speaker credentials were current at the time of presentation.

Oncology Nursing at the Heart of Health Care: Driving Change and Innovation
Lynn Kachuik, RN, BA, MS, CON(C), CHPCN(C)

131I- MIBG Therapy: Living in a Lead Lined World
Denise Mills, RN(EC) MN NP
Sharleen Sawicki, RN, BScN, CPHON

Spotlight on Solid Tumours
Hanna Tseitlin, RN (EC), MN, PNP

Demystifying Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Christine Armstrong, RN(EC), MScN
Sarah Courtney, RN (EC), MN, NP Pediatrics
Mary Jo De Courcy, RN, MScN, NP Pediatrics

Providing Research Results to Participants
Conrad Fernandez, MD, FRCPC

PTLD: A Primer
Angela Punnett, MD, FRCPC

Risk Stratification in Neuroblastoma
Denise Mills, RN(EC) MN NP

New & Now – Four Studies that are Changing the Landscape of Care
Continuous Quality Improvement in Pediatric Oncology – Utilizing Lean Methodology to Standardize Chemotherapy Administration Practices
Erin O’Shaughnessy, RN, MScN, CPHON
Martha Pinheiro-Maltez, RN, MScN

Rapid Hydration: Small Change with Big Gains
Julie Watson, MSN, RN(EC)

Feasibility, Acceptability and Effectiveness of a Sleep Hygiene and Relaxation Intervention to Improve Sleep and Fatigue for Children on Maintenance Chemotherapy for ALL
Sue Zupanec, MN, NP Pediatrics

Understanding Body Image, Sexuality, Dating, Friendships and Fertility in Adolescents with Cancer from an Adolescent and Parent Perspective
Lindsay Jibb, RN, MSc, PhD student

The Power of the Backpack
Eleanor Hendershot RN(EC), MN, BScN
Sandra Ross, BA, RN

Oncology Nursing at the Heart of Health Care: Driving Change and Innovation

Posted on March 4, 2014 by admin

Presentation Description:
Nurses have always been at the centre of the health care system, having the most direct interface with patients and families. Oncology nurses are well positioned to examine care from a longitudinal perspective since our patients and families require frequent visits for a prolonged period as part of their treatment. Patient/family centred care is a core competency of oncology nursing as is advocacy. Oncology nurses, nested within the interprofessional team, can identify barriers to excellent care, advocate for required changes and work to implement innovations in care to improve outcomes. This presentation explored the role of oncology nurses in championing quality, holistic care for patients and families using exemplars from the literature, as well as cases from current clinical practice.

Speaker:
Lynn Kachuik, RN, BA, MS, CON(C), CHPCN(C)
Advanced Practice Nurse, Palliative Care
Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa

131I- MIBG Therapy: Living in a Lead-Lined World

Posted on March 4, 2014 by admin

Presentation Description:
Despite advances in the treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma, cure rates remain <50% with neuroblastoma accounting for 15% of all pediatric oncology deaths (Maris, 2007, 2010). In Canada, there are 60-70 children newly diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year, with 50% of these cases being stage IV disease (Canadian Cancer Society, 2008). Although most patients with stage IV high risk disease respond to front-line therapy, 50-60% will relapse and the prognosis for these children remains poor, with most dying from progressive disease. These children often suffer tumor related pain and undergo frequent cycles of chemotherapy for disease control, resulting in side effects such as febrile neutropenia, and many visits to hospital for supportive and follow up care. The literature describes that ¹³¹I- MIBG therapy is effective in the treatment of refractory and relapse disease although is not a cure. In a large multi-institutional phase 2 trial examining ¹³¹I-MIBG as monotherapy Matthay et al, concluded that this targeted radionuclide is highly active and effective in the treatment of refractory or relapse high risk neuroblastoma with an overall complete plus partial response rate of 36%.

Access for Canadian families has been limited by a lack of Canadian ¹³¹I- MIBG facilities. Currently there is only 1 center in Canada and approximately 10 in the US that offer this therapy, and as a result families seeking ¹³¹I-MIBG therapy travel long distances to receive this treatment. As a leader in research and innovation SickKids gained approval for the construction and implementation of a ¹³¹I-MIBG therapy suite on the inpatient haematology/oncology unit. This presentation provided an overview of the planning, development and implementation of the ¹³¹I-MIBG program at SickKids.

Speakers:
Denise Mills, RN(EC), MN, NP
Nurse Practitioner, Division of Haematology/Oncology
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
Lawrence S. Bloomberg Cross Appointment at Faculty of Nursing
University of Toronto, Toronto

Sharleen Sawicki, RN, BScN, CPHON
Registered Nurse, Division of Haematology/Oncology
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

The Heterogeneity of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – Complexities of Risk Stratification in ALL

Posted on March 4, 2014 by admin

Presentation Description: In the last 20 years technologies have advanced the diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It has been learned that ALL is a diverse and heterogeneous disease with varying biological features. Today genetic alterations can be found in almost all cases of childhood ALL. These genetic alterations are random and include chromosomal numerical losses or gains, or whole or partial translocations. As the presence of genetic alterations informs both the prognosis and risk assignment of childhood ALL the current standard of care for diagnosis includes a bundle of tests including cytomorphology and cytochemistry with immunophenotyping, cytogenetic analysis and molecular assessment. This spotlight on ALL presentation reviewed both historical and newly discovered ALL biology and describe the increasing complex risk assignment of patients diagnosed with ALL. The presentation also highlighted early precursor T ALL, intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21, and an update of Philadelphia positive ALL (t(9:22)) with corresponding influences on current treatment and therapies in development.

Speaker:

Sue Zupanec, MN NP Pediatrics
Nurse Practitioner, Leukemia and Lymphoma Program
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

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Tag: 2013 Pre-Symposium Nursing Seminar

POGO Celebrates Pediatric Oncology Nursing Excellence with Bruna DiMonte

2013 Pre-Symposium Seminar

VIEW THE PROGRAM

Oncology Nursing at the Heart of Health Care: Driving Change and Innovation

131I- MIBG Therapy: Living in a Lead-Lined World

The Heterogeneity of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – Complexities of Risk Stratification in ALL