“Cancer care must address nurse shortages to keep up with surging demand.”

In the UK alone, cancer affects 3 million people and is projected to swell to 4 million by 2030. data from McMillan.It’s pretty cool to understand cancer research uk It is estimated that one in two Britons will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.

Unsurprisingly, the exponential growth of patients is driving the entire cancer treatment pathway, from first discovery research critical to advances in detection and diagnostic services, to healthcare professionals such as nurses who provide frontline care. means a great future demand for professionals in Complicating matters, however, is the current shortage of such nursing professionals, jeopardizing quality patient care.

According to some, in effect report The NHS is estimated to be short of 3,371 oncology nurses by 2030, according to the Health and Social Services Commission last year. The report further estimates that this shortage, and that of other oncologists, will mean a shortage of as many as 340,000 by 2019. And he may have missed an early cancer diagnosis in 2028. This severely limits available treatment options and directly impacts access to essential care.

This is by no means just a UK problem. Global healthcare systems are strained by a nursing workforce shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, leading to a huge backlog of patients in need of treatment. Such a huge backlog could be closed by 2033. report Estimated by the Public Policy Institute.

Another key concern is the impact of the deficit on existing nursing professionals. Stress, burnout and growing concerns about patient outcomes are all issues that dominate the conversation in the UK healthcare sector, and many nurses are looking to take action to address these issues. , such problems have even led some to leave the field altogether.

To keep up with surging demand, cancer care must grapple with this shortage of nurses. It is therefore imperative not only to understand the root cause of this critical issue, but also to consider how this can be achieved to produce long-term results.

What is often referred to by the umbrella term ‘cancer’ is, of course, much more complex. More than 200 different diseases are classified as cancers, and each type has distinct symptoms and treatment pathways.

Furthermore, the patient’s individual genetics and the biology of the tumor itself may influence disease behavior, response to therapy, and ultimate outcome. Despite estimated success rates of 30% to 60%, currently all patients diagnosed with the same condition receive the same first-line treatment. NHS.

“Healthcare systems around the world will need vast numbers of technically trained oncology nurses to join the oncology workforce.”

In a move to improve treatment efficacy, oncologists widely agree that in the future cancer treatment will be personalized for each individual patient. In practice, this is equivalent to an expert studying a patient’s genome and tumor DNA separately to formulate a personalized treatment regimen. Such therapies are key to dramatically improving patient outcomes.

At current levels of staffing and training, these treatments are a distant concept. Moving towards their provision requires significant efforts to recruit and train highly specialized nursing professionals. Nursing has usually been viewed as a pastoral role within many health care systems, and so to provide this specialized care, health care systems around the world rely on a vast number of technically trained nurses. Oncology nurses need to join the oncology workforce. But how can the oncology field achieve this?

Advances in cancer research are now overtaking the healthcare system for these acute shortages. In fact, this shortage of specialist nurses and other health workers is not the only obstacle. Experts across cancer pathways, including geneticists, health data scientists, and researchers, need greater insight into individual cancer types across the field to advance toward personalized treatments. I have.

Oncologists’ views on the other end of the treatment pathway are often unclear. Researchers are naturally limited in their practical understanding of how their work translates into patient care, and vice versa for frontline nursing professionals. Higher education can help develop such insights and give professionals a broader translational understanding of the entire field of oncology.

Similarly, experienced nurses looking to expand laterally into oncology should synergize learning, clinical decision-making, and research to increase the number of nursing professionals in the field and increase existing skill sets can be effectively transferred to improve the skills needed in the field of cancer care.

“Cancer care’s most effective response to this skills gap crisis must be a renewed focus on training.”

Addressing the deficit by shifting large portions of the nursing workforce from medical practice to upskilling time-intensive programs is counterproductive, but in recent years educational courses have been designed to be delivered through short online modules. , allowing nursing professionals to build skills over time without having a major impact on their lives and careers.

Moreover, such an agile micro-qualification structure enables educators (and thus their students) to more effectively keep pace with rapid research advances, accelerating progress across the oncology field. As such, such courses not only provide a holistic understanding of oncology, but are able to integrate learning directly into the nurse’s professional practice.

Cancer care’s most effective response to this skills gap crisis is a renewed focus on training and upskilling existing nurses to become professional cancer nurses through flexible and accessible education. It must be

Indeed, the development of a broader workforce of highly specialized, multi-skilled nursing professionals is key to bridging this gap, reducing burnout in the workplace and promoting more personalized care. Developed and delivered, ultimately helping to improve outcomes for cancer patients.

Doctor Suzanne Johnson Director of Online Programs at the University of Manchester. Master’s Program in Transformative Oncologyis a course designed to advance the skills of cancer professionals and ultimately transform clinical outcomes for cancer patients.She is also a Lecturer in the Cancer Science Department and Head of the Department of Social Responsibility