6 November, 2023
Please tell us about yourself and your role?
My name is Audrey O’Halloran and I am the Clinical Lead Cancer Nurse for the Haematology, Oncology, and Palliative Care (HOPe) directorate at St James's Hospital. As Lead Cancer Nurse, my role includes diverse responsibilities, including clinical assessment and care of people living with cancer, education of cancer nurses, and development and implementation of projects that enhance the quality of cancer care provided in St James’s Hospital. Occupational safety and cancer education are significant interests within my role, which I hope to build upon over the coming years.
How long have you been in this role?
I commenced my current role as Clinical Lead Cancer Nurse in July 2022. I have over twelve years of clinical experience in cancer care, and have been engaged in continuous education throughout this time to advance my clinical and academic expertise. I hold a BSc in General Nursing (UCD), a Postgraduate Diploma in Cancer Care and Haematology Nursing (TCD), and a MSc in Clinical Practice (UCD).
How have you prepared to do this role?
I have been very fortunate to have had a varied range of career development, and real world Oncology/Haematology experience across the HOPe Directorate, St James’s Hospital. Additionally, I have cancer care experience from a large university teaching hospital in Dublin and across a range of public and private hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. My prior roles have included; Staff Nurse in the Oncology/Haematology inpatient ward, Staff Nurse in the Oncology/Haematology day ward, Clinical Nurse Manager and most recently Clinical Support Nurse for the inpatient Oncology/Haematology ward.
My most recent academic venture was my MSc in Clinical Practice, which I completed in May 2023 with first class honours. As I have a big interest in occupational safety for cancer care nurses and other healthcare workers, working in Oncology/Haematology, my MSc dissertation focused on surface wipe sampling for hazardous drugs in cancer care settings. Surface wipe sampling is the method used for determining hazardous drugs contamination in a healthcare setting. I am currently pursuing relevant grant applications to further complete this research in St James’s Hospital. I work by leading by example, and I aim to inspire my fellow clinical nursing colleagues in cancer care to engage in nurse-led research, igniting a collective effort towards safer evidence based practices.
What are some of the challenges you face in this role?
I face daily challenges of prioritising day to day regular workload and working on deadlines for projects and initiatives. I am lucky I am a very organised person and organisation is key in this role in juggling and prioritising many different items and deadlines on any given day.
What are some of the successes you’ve seen in this role?
Some of the successes I have had in this role are developing a Haematology placement with one of my colleagues for Haematology nurses from the HOPe directorate to complete a week long bone marrow transplant placement in a major European Hospital. Off the back of this successful initiative I am currently organising another placement for an Oncology nurse to complete a week long placement in an OECI Comprehensive Cancer Centre, in the UK.
Additionally, I run regular initiatives to support cancer care nurses to attend various national and European Oncology/Haematology conferences and take part in furthering their education and careers in MSc and ANP courses. All these HOPe directorate initiatives are funded by the HOPe Nurse Education Fund. This is a really great measure and unique incentive for cancer care nurses in the HOPe directorate at St James's Hospital.
Communication is essential in this role and another success I have been lucky to be part of is through our Cancer Nurse Council. These Magnet4Europe meetings reconvened in September 2022. I am co-chair for the committee, with my colleague from Trinity St. James Cancer Institute (TSJCI). The main purpose of the Council, is to empower cancer nurses in TSJCI across St James’s to become exemplars in their field. Additionally, the meetings focus on optimising cross disciplinary and cross institution cancer nurse communication on campus.