Celebrating 20 years of nursing cancer conference care

The International Conference on Cancer Nursing celebrated its 20th anniversary in Hong Kong last month – and it was exceptional.

The conference – organised by the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care based in Canada – aimed to embrace globalisation through leadership and partnership in cancer care, a feat it achieved with 395 delegates from 34 countries.

The strength of partnership with other nursing organisations was clear; official partners included the Asian Oncology Nursing Society, Hong Kong Oncology Nursing Group, European Oncology Nursing Society, International Psycho-Oncology Society, and the Multinational Society of Supportive Care in Cancer.

The opening ceremony included a fabulous display by traditional Lion Dancers, which certainly dispelled my jet lag at 8am on day 1. The programme had a good mix of plenary and concurrent sessions, and also extensive poster displays.

The organisers had packed a lot into three days due to overwhelming demand from nurses to present at this prestigious conference. This ensured there was something for everybody, given the numerous specialties in cancer nursing, and provided a great deal of choice for delegates during concurrent sessions.

It was wonderful to see how much oncology nursing has developed over the past 10 years, demonstrating leadership, research and practice innovations. There was a clear focus on improving patients’ experiences and enhancing care.

This was demonstrated by concurrent sessions on symptom management, care delivery, quality and care, palliative/end of life care, survivorship, cultural diversity and health promotion. The abstract book is available to download free. 

I was impressed by the number of nurses from Hong Kong and China who were presenting, but there was widespread global involvement, which was great to see.

There are always fantastic opportunities to network at nursing conferences. This one was particularly special since I had already met several nurses from Hong Kong when they came to visit The Christie, so it was good to meet them again in their own country. 

Carole Farrell is consultant editor, Cancer Nursing Practice