The Robert Tiffany Lectureship. Vital signs at the millennium: becoming more than we are

Presenting this lecture named for my colleague, the late Robert Tiffany, is an honor. He was part of the first International Conference on Cancer Nursing 20 years ago, which was my first international meeting. It was part of what expanded our Texas--only cancer prevention and detection program for nurses into an international effort. Lessons acquired through this work in the past include learning to respect and honor cultural differences, adapting control programs to the resources at hand, accepting a role as a leader and being an agent for change, and passing on what has been learned to others. The challenges of today include the worldwide death and disability toll of lung cancer, the threat of breast cancer and the promise of regular screening to lower its morbidity and mortality, and the hope that a willingness to adapt screening for cervical cancer in developing countries will lower its mortality rate. Twenty years in the future we can expect nurses to remain educators, exemplars, and agents of change; cancer prevention and early detection to rise in the hierarchy of care; continued collaborative care between physicians and nurses; enhanced patient care through information access; and a larger role for cancer genetics in nursing practice.