Easing a Hospital Stay for a Patient With Cancer as an Oncology Nurse

One oncology nurse explained how her personal experience with cancer in her family has shaped her to be a source of support for patients with cancer.

Jessica McDade, B.S.N, RN, OCN, who is a charge nurse at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, was a finalist for the 2024 Extraordinary Healer® Award for oncology nursing. In an interview with CURE® ahead of the ceremony, she discussed how she has been on both sides of the cancer experience —as an oncology nurse and as a caregiver to family members with cancer.

She explained how seemingly small things, such as advice about how to pay for parking nearby hotels, can “take a little bit of weight off somebody’s shoulders.”

“It's an easy thing that I can do, but it really could make somebody else's life [easier],” McDade said.

Nominations are now open for the 2025 CURE Extraordinary Healer award.

Transcript

I think that would be somebody [who] makes a patient's stay a little less daunting.

I've been on the other side of the bed — both as a daughter and as a mother — and having those people there to guide you [who] have experienced that, have seen it before and [to] give you resources and reassurance is more than you could ever ask for. So even if I just have one little bit of advice, even if it's just how to pay for parking or what hotel to stay at, just to take a little bit of the weight off of somebody's shoulders. It's an easy thing that I can do, but it really could make somebody else's life [easier].

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