Hello everyone! My name is Crystal Townsend. I live in a small city in Georgia named Fairmount. I am about 60 miles north of Atlanta. I am married to my middle school sweetheart. We have 2 children, Payton who just finished her senior year of high school and Dawson who just finished his freshman year of high school.
This is my family! We enjoy spending time outdoors together. We hunt, we fish, we play sports. Anything to be together! When we are not doing stuff as a family, I enjoy reading and exercising.
I graduated nursing school in 2001. I started my career as a nurse working on Med/Surg. I went from floor nurse on nights, to weekend charge nurse, then worked my way to week day charge nurse. I became the Clinical Coordinator of Med/Surg right before I decided to change paths. I had received my Chemotherapy/Biotherapy Administration card in 2003. Anytime we had a cancer patient admitted to the floor that needed chemotherapy, I was the one that administered it. I was always drawn towards these patients. So, in 2009 I started working in an Oncologist office as a chemotherapy infusion nurse. I am still doing that today. I cannot imagine myself working in another field at this point. These patients become family to me. I know them and their families and they know all about mine. I see them at their worst and love them through it all.
Research and evidence based practice is very important in the Oncology field. If it was not for research, we would not have any of the treatments that we have today. Research is still being done on a constant basis to find drugs to slow down this disease process and a possible cure. I am a member of ONS (Oncology Nursing Society). I get on their website a lot and see the latest research studies being performed. Also, evidence based practice is huge in Oncology. You will hear me refer to Oncology a lot during this class because that is all I really know. But I know it well. I love Oncology. The standards of care are changing constantly in Oncology and we are constantly stopping and asking if this is best practice. We work so closely with pharmacy too. We had a lot of changes with the new USP800 requirements for chemotherapy administration that came out this year. As I was watching the instructor introduction video and she said ask yourself do I do my job this way because it is best practice, I thought to myself, as Oncology nurses we have that discussion daily. My coworkers and I are constantly looking on the ONS website for best practice information. Anytime we hear that we have to change something we always ask the question, “Is this the best practice?”
I look forward to meeting everyone! Have a great semester!
Crystal Townsend, RN
Hey Crystal,
I am also a Oncology nurse but for pediatrics, which requires APHON certification. Not nearly as intense as the adult certification. You have a lot more chemo drugs to administer than I would ever know what to do with. Evidence based practice is out best friend when is comes to oncology. I am currently working in acute care pediatrics because we recently moved to Texas from Kansas and this is what I could find for now. I want to so badly get back into oncology as I miss it so much, getting to know the families and the patient. They become family! I hope you have a great semester.
Hi Whitney! It’s great to meet another Oncology nurse. Pediatric Oncoloyg, WOW! That is where I always figured I would end up because I always loved working with children but not sure I could handle that now. We currently have a friend of ours with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma in his abdomen. He just turned 5. Been tough seeing him go through that. God bless you and what you do!
Welcome to the course, Crystal!
Oncology nurses are the greatest! Thank you for your hard work, dedication and compassion. EBP is so important in nursing as science and technology rapidly evolve and improve. You sound like a rockstar!
HAHA thank you! I try to be a rockstar but not sure I succeed! Good luck in the class!
I have always been interested in oncology. I have had a few family members who have passed from cancer, the oncology nurses were always to kind and compassionate. That was actually part of the reason I went into nursing to begin with. Good luck this semester!!
What a lovely mission to work in pediatric oncology! I do hope you will find a position that will be best for you soon. I am thinking I might want to try a new area of nursing for me after I get this BSN thing. I will read up on pediatric oncology as it does sound interesting.