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Sharing a passion for oncology nursing

 

New Zealand has just one oncology nurse practitioner working outside of the main cancer treatment centres — and that is Lynne Gray at Gisborne Hospital.

As a cancer nurse practitioner Lynne makes clinical decisions on cancer treatment plans, orders laboratory tests and imaging, and prescribes chemotherapy and other cancer medicine.

This is done in close collaboration with tertiary oncologists based at Waikato District Health Board who attend monthly in-person or Zoom meetings.

If Lynne wasn't working at Gisborne Hospital, then cancer treatment staff and people receiving care would have to rely on a visiting cancer doctor to do that work.

“I don't have the high level specialist knowledge of a tertiary level medical oncologist, but I do have a unique knowledge base that reflects the local context,” says Lynne.

That unique knowledge and qualifications make Lynne a drawcard for others wanting to work in Tui te Ora, Gisborne Hospital's Long Term Conditions unit.

Lynne acts as a touchstone for cancer nurse specialists when it comes to patient care.

Tui te Ora nurse manager Andrea Seymour says Lynne is an incredible coach and collaborator.

“Her 30 years of nursing practice, tertiary education, and work with multi-disciplinary teams across the nation, means that Lynne offers the best of nursing with some skills from medicine.”

Lynne says the model of care offered in the Medical Day unit is something she could only have dreamed of 20 years ago.

Now she wants to attract more nurses to join the team — maybe even to rise to the level of nursing expertise that she operates at.

“This is a job where you get to use everything you ever learned as a nurse and studied in your postgraduate studies. And the learning never stops.”

She recommended anyone interested in oncology nursing to first work in an emergency department or medical ward to better develop their patient assessment skills in an acute setting.

An alternative starting point is to train as a chemotherapy infusion nurse.

From there, training as a Nurse Practitioner challenges every aspect of your nursing scope, says Lynne.

“But with that comes a tremendous satisfaction that you have pushed your nursing practice to the nth degree and you're meeting the needs of this remote and unique community.”

Lynne says pragmatism and empathy in equal measure are helpful qualities for oncology nurses.

“The staff here are fabulous - nurses in oncology are passionate and have long-term relationships with the people we care for and their whanau, and can cry with them too”.

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