Quality measures: a call to action. Foreword.

This supplement to the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (CJON) marks a significant milestone in the sustained efforts of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) to improve the quality of cancer care-a core component of the ONS mission. The lead article by Fessele, Yendro, and Mallory on pages 7-11 of this supplement summarizes the ONS Foundation-supported Breast Cancer Care (BCC) and Breast Cancer Survivorship (BCS) Quality Measures project. ONS leaders recognized that efforts to improve performance and patient outcomes were limited by the lack of a core set of reliable and valid patient-centered measures. A grant from the Breast Cancer Fund of the National Philanthropic Trust to the ONS Foundation supported a partnership with the Joint Commission and the development of two sets of measures for patients with breast cancer. These patient-centered measures span the treatment and the survivorship phases of cancer care, and are sensitive to nursing practice. This pioneering work is a direct outcome of ONS's strategic initiatives related to quality and builds on the extensive foundation for promoting evidence-based practice through the Putting Evidence Into Practice (PEP) initiative.