Charlene "Gayle" Hawley discusses how the information she's learned through the AONN+ Annual Conference will help her put patients first and improve cancer care.
Transcription:
My name is Gayle Hawley, my title is RN BSN OCN. I practice in Kingsport, Tennessee. I'm at the regional cancer center for Mountain States Health Alliance. I've been an oncology nurse for more than 30 years, but I'm new to the role navigation. I have learned through my years in oncology that the best place to get information and education are through your professional organizations, and so my supervisor asked if I had heard of the conference and the organization.
It's new to me, but I'm very excited about what I'm learning so far and the information that I found online. What I found most educational so far is that we really are part of a team. The navigator is kind of the hub to me, that while I can't do everything for everyone, I should have access to those resources and the other folks on the team that can do that. So I need to learn to delegate some of those responsibilities, and make sure that I focus, I think, Lily said last night, "Patient first," or one of the speakers did.
I think that's important to remember that's really who I serve. I think fortunately our administrators are here this weekend also, so I would hope that we'd be able to talk with each other about what we've learned about our different roles, what resources perhaps we need to add, what responsibilities maybe we need to delegate, what responsibilities maybe should go to another area. So I think helping us to define our roles a little more clearly and the resources that are available to us would be huge.
