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

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Jessica McDade, B.S.N., RN, OCN, explains how she helps make her patients’ experience “a little less daunting” during their hospital stay.

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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