Creating a culture of compassion: developing supportive care for people with cancer

Receiving the 2003 Distinguished Merit Award from the European Oncology Nursing Society is a great moment in my professional career. It is also a time for reflection. We can easily become immersed in the specifics of our work and forget the larger picture. An opportunity such as this allows me to step back, reflect and review what I have accomplished. It also challenges me to think about the totality of cancer nursing and cancer care, look at where we have been and about where we should be going. At the heart of this lies the concept of supportive care. I would like to consider three pertinent areas. First, I will define what I consider the domain of supportive care in cancer to be. Second, I will look at what is needed to further supportive care for people with cancer. This involves building the discipline of more rigorous symptom assessment and documentation; better management of the symptoms and concerns that confront people with cancer; moving beyond the traditional framework of treatment and care, embracing a more integrated approach; addressing quality whilst at the same expediting the delivery of supportive care services. Third, I would like to consider the challenges to reform that this presents for cancer nursing and cancer nurses. A road map for change will be presented which highlights both the necessity to promote a supportive care culture whilst simultaneously building a dedicated infrastructure of staff and services. Nurses must play a key role in supportive care. Because of our unique clinical and research base, we are primed to assume leadership roles in both these spheres. Mutual valuing, partnership and shared working are the only means of delivering enhanced cancer care. We should grasp opportunities, confident that together we have the skills and knowledge to move forward. Today is yesterday's tomorrow. We cannot do anything about yesterday, but we can do something about today to ensure tomorrow is how we want it to be. We can become what we dream, let us live that dream outside and really drive forward the care we provide for people with cancer and their families.