Oncology Nurse Career Choice

Julie Cheyenne Haygood
Freshman Seminar
10-4-16

The career choice that I chose would be Oncology Nursing. The role of an Oncology Nurse is to educate the patient, and the patients’ family about the cancer, as well as to be a support system for them.
Oncology Nurses are to treat the patient as a whole, they are not just treat the cancer. These type of nurses give special care to their patients. When you work as an Oncology Nurse you have to have patience and simply care for them.
Education requirements for this occupation you would need to have a Bachelor's degree to become a registered nurse, after that you would need to specialize in Oncology Nursing. The main duty of an ON is to supervise and to provide nursing care to cancer patients. You will monitor the patient’s conditions, and develop care plans for them. You will also help monitor their medications. Oncology nurses create a specialized care plan for patients under their supervision and care.

To become Oncology certified you will have to complete a test which is three hours long. It is a 165 multiple choice item test based. The test includes nine major subject areas; you have to pass each section with a certain percentage.
The potential of finding a job as an Oncology Nurse in Louisiana would vary. Most OCN's (Oncology Certified Nursing) work in hospitals, or specialized hospitals. Considering that I've always wanted to work at St. Jude’s Cancer and Research Center, I would have to relocate and move away. St. Jude’s is a specialized hospital for patients, mostly kids who have cancer. ON's make anywhere from $22.28 an hour to $41.89 an hour. So by working as an Oncology Nurse you could make anywhere from $46,395 - $88,878 a year.
I feel that Oncology Nursing would be best for me because I love people especially kids.

I care for other people more than I care for myself. I've always been the type of person to help anyone in need. I watched my Nana, the lady who raised me since I came home from the hospital go through and fight cancer for a whole year. Everything she went through, I was there holding her hand through it all. The numerous doctor appointments, the many rounds of chemo and radiation, the week long and month long hospital stays, the sickness, the good days and the bad ones. Even when the doctors told us there was nothing else they could do for her, I was there. We had always been a team and I wasn't going to let cancer take that relationship away from us. August 7, 2015 I lost my Nana to cancer. Cancer can be a scary thing. I believe that if I can watch the person that I loved the most go through cancer and be there for them, then I can do that for anyone. I have such a big heart and helping people is one thing that I love to

do.
As an ON I would work in all aspects of cancer care. Oncology Nurses play a variety of roles when they provide for patients with cancer. You always learn something new in the nursing field. I’ve had several people tell me that no one day on the job is ever the same.
In conclusion, I do believe that I would make a great Oncology nurse. It’s just a step by step thing to do. So I plan on taking it one step at a time, until I reach my full and potential goal.

Resources:
www.learn.org/oncologynurses
www.payscale.com/oncologynurses