The Growing Role of Neuro-Oncology Nurses

European Association of NeuroOncology Magazine 2011; 1 (1): 45-46

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Keywords: neurology,  nurse,  oncology

In June 2001, I started at the neuro-oncological outpatient clinic within a multidisciplinary care team consisting of neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists and radiotherapists. As a trained oncology nurse, I started seeing patients and their families in consulting hours, learning from them what they needed in the course of their disease. Realizing that the chance of dying from a tumour was bigger than to recover from it, I found the challenge in wanting to be involved in the “voyage of the patient and his family’’. Consequently, I searched for literature and articles about primary brain tumours to gain knowledge for what was my main task: supportive care and coordination of care for this patient group. What have I learned during the past 10 years?