Improving Cancer Care Through Nursing Research.

Nursing research and nurse researchers have been an integral and significant part of the Oncology Nursing Society's (ONS's) history, as evidenced by the development of the Nursing Research Committee within a few years of ONS's establishment. Ruth McCorkle, PhD, RN, FAAN, was the committee's first chairperson in 1979. This was followed by the creation of the Advanced Nursing Research Special Interest Group in 1989 under the leadership of Jean Brown, PhD, RN, FAAN. ONS also began to recognize nurse researchers in 1994 by creating the annual ONS Distinguished Researcher Award to recognize the contributions of a member who has conducted or promoted research that has enhanced the science and practice of oncology nursing. The list of recipients and of their work is impressive and reflects the wide range of our practice areas (see http://bit.ly/1MTC5cp for the recipient list). In addition, the ONS Foundation began funding research in 1981 and has distributed more than $24 million in research grants, research fellowships, and other scholarships, lectures, public education projects, and career development awards (ONS Foundation, 2015). And, in 2006, the Putting Evidence Into Practice resource was unveiled, which provides evidence-based intervention reviews for the 20 most common problems experienced by patients with cancer and their caregivers (www.ons
.org/practice-resources/pep)
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