RN

From a Nurse's Perspective

by Denise Reinke, MS, NP

[Editor's Note: Denise, is a Sarcoma Nurse Practitioner at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Administrative Director of SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration). We are delighted that she is initiating this new, regular column in ESUN. For more information about Denise and her extensive nursing background, see Jean-Yves Blay, M.D., Ph.D. and Denise Reinke, APRN, BC, AOCN Join Medical Editorial Board in this issue of ESUN. In what follows, she introduces the column which will launch in our first issue on 2007.]

This summer I had the great privilege to ride with Team Sarcoma 2006 through the Danish country side. Many different perspectives were represented as Team Sarcoma gathered together to ride and raise public awareness of sarcoma. There were people who were currently receiving treatment for sarcoma, those who had previously been treated, family members, loved ones and caregivers all gathering together to share this adventure.

The connection to sarcoma that brought me to Denmark is my role as a nurse practitioner. In daily practice, I care for people with sarcoma. It was a great opportunity for me to see people outside the hospital/office setting whose lives had been touched by sarcoma. I learned much and made new friends. Bruce Shriver, our leader and guide on this tour, and I had time to talk about his commitment and passion to provide accurate and up to date information about sarcoma diagnosis and treatment. I have been a reader of ESUN and was familiar with this high quality publication. I could not help but share my observation with Bruce that he primarily had sought the perspective of physicians and I challenged him to consider including a nursing perspective. We spoke of the role that nurses have in the care of people with sarcoma and the impact nurses have on patients and families throughout the course of an illness.

Having seen the title, you likely can surmise that as Bruce considered our conversation, it took him mere minutes to recognize the value this would bring to ESUN. We quickly began to brainstorm around the potential topics nurses could write about that would be helpful and informative.

So it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you a new column to ESUN, “From a Nurse’s Perspective.” I am so pleased to be offered the opportunity to coordinate this endeavor and bring you the perspective and voice of the nurses that daily care for people with sarcoma. The first article will appear in the February 2007 edition of ESUN. The topic will be Collaborative Practice: Partners in Caring. It is our intention to have this as a regular column in ESUN. Some of the future topics will include:

	Clinical Trials: Moving the Science Foreword
	Perspectives Across Nations: Nursing Care outside the US
	Young Adults and Adolescents with Sarcoma
	Symptom Management: Maximize benefit and minimize harm
	“Chemo Brain”
	Decision Making: Facilitating the Process
	Dealing with End of Life Concerns

While I will be writing a number of articles in this column, there will also be guest nursing editors with sarcoma expertise who will be writing some of them. This is a great opportunity for us as nurses to share our perspective. We look forward to being a part of ESUN through this regular column, “From a Nurse’s Perspective”.

Comments and Suggestions

I would appreciate receiving any comments or ideas you have regarding this column. Click here to send me a note.