Kathleen Shannon-Dorcy, RN, PhD
Seattle, WA
Position: Director-at-Large
Kathleen Shannon Dorcy, PhD, RN, FAAN
Director of Clinical Research Education and Practice and Staff Scientist Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington Tacoma Seattle, WA
ONS member: 32 years
EDUCATION:
2011 PhD in Nursing University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah
1991 MN and certificate in Ethics University of Washington, Seattle WA
1983 BSN and minor in Philosophy Seattle University, Seattle WA
1976 AA in counseling North Seattle College
1978 Practical Nurse North Seattle College
ONS PARTICIPATION (national and local):
2006-2017 PSONS Board Chair of Research Committee
1985-2017 PSONS membership
2013-2016 ONS ANR SIG-Leadership Advisory Council
2014 Position Paper for Redesign of Oncology Nursing Society Research Conference, author and researcher with Dr. Jean Johnson appointed by Margaret Wilmoth and Mary Gullatte
2004 and 2015 PSONS Symposium Planning Committee Frequent speaker at ONS meetings and educagtional offerings.
Key Note speaker for Katmai Alaska Denali ONA meeting in October 2017
WORK RELATED SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP:
2015-current Director of Clinical Research, Education and Practice Seattle Cancer Care Alliance 2014-current Chair of the Rosemary Ford Future of Nursing Scholarship Program
2009-Member Research Implementation Executive Steering Committee (RIESC), at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
1994-current Scientific Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institutional Review Board 1999-2003 Invited by NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus to be an Associate member on the National Institutes of Health Director’s Council of Public Representatives
1985-1991 Charge Nurse Pediatric Unit (including BMT pts) Swedish Hospital
1985 and 1987 Dean Search Committee Member for Seattle University
HEALTH CARE/ CANCER ORGANIZATIONS EXPERIENCE, OTHER PROFESSIONAL NURSING ORGANIZATIONS /Additional experience (community, political etc.):
2016-2018 Faculty Mentor for the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy
2014-2017 Board Member for the Seattle University College of Nursing
2006-2007 Board Member for Group Health Cooperative Foundation Seattle WA
2000-2010 Volunteer for the American Cancer Society Seattle Chapter fund raising and lecturing 1999-2004 Mentor for Seattle Public Schools, “Job Shadows, Exploring the Future,” program for young women interested in careers in science
Position Statement: The ONS Strategic Plan for 2016-2018 has two goals: 1. Advance the quality of cancer care and patient/staff safety. 2. Grow the Society by recruiting, engaging, and retaining a diverse mix of nurses caring for patients with cancer. These goals must be embodied in the people who are elected leaders on the ONS Board. Our leaders must have the capacity to embrace the spectrum of oncology nursing from expert bedside care delivery to mentorship of scientific inquiry and translational research to advocacy in policy formation. I have been privileged to work in translational research at large academic medical cancer center and to teach undergraduate and graduate nurses, the best of both worlds. I have been mentored by international and national oncology leaders to work with teams of oncology professionals to incorporate evidence into best clinical practice. Teaching new nurses and guiding graduate students has allowed me to develop the next generation of nurses and mentor innovation and inquiry. Serving on the ONS national board would be an honor that mandates maintaining existing strong individual relationships while simultaneously holding a larger, population health perspective to enable change and opportunity to continue to improve cancer outcomes in our world.
How have you advanced excellence in oncology nursing and quality cancer care? I have worked to advance excellence and quality in oncology nursing clinical practice and research in Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) in pediatric bed side nursing. I went on to coordinate clinical trials across the spectrum of BMT care: graft versus host disease protocols, growth factors to decrease risks of neutropenia, and monoclonal antibody therapies that targeted specific markers on cells to cleave the double stranded DNA and thus interrupt the cell proliferation in acute myelogenous leukemia. Working with patients in early phase clinical trials I was an integral member of the clinical research team that brought forward data on key agents such as cyclosporine, growth factors and antineoplastic agents. Cures of cancer are inspiring but at the heart of my work has been the distinct value of each patient and family I have been privileged to share in the journey of cancer care. Excellence is defined as the BEST patient outcomes. It involves the ability to work with the most effective oncologic agents and modalities while also facilitating difficult conversations about disease progression. Being present in the final moments of life is as important as expert clinical care and something I hold as metric of quality oncology nursing care.
Provide a recent example of how you used innovation in your leadership experiences. Nothing innovative is ever done alone; team collaboration builds the strongest evidence to move research into approval by FDA and hopefully improve cancer outcomes for patients. Currently as a Nurse Scientist and Director of Clinical Research, Education and Practice an area I work with is immunotherapy (IMTX) including CAR-T cell therapies. The scientific teams bring forward state of the art new agents and clinical staff members work to perfect the standards of implementation in an ever changing clinical landscape. Our nursing staff working with the scientific teams set the standard for quality nursing care for IMTX, creating ways to measure and report implementation, process, and outcomes related to integration of the standard. Dissemination of evidence is essential and I mentored staff in submission of abstracts for the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) meeting in Anaheim. All abstracts from teams from IMTX were accepted for oral presentations on best clinical practices. Innovation begins with ideas and pre-clinical work, proceeds through strictly regulated phases to approval and eventually manifests in clinical practice where evidence based changes drive attainment of quality cancer care. Consequently all innovation is a collaborative effort that transpires between scientists, nurses, physicians, pharmacists and patients.
Provide a recent example of how you used advocacy in your leadership experiences. “Advocacy” originates from the Latin advocatus "one called to aid (another); advocate," noun use of past participle of advocare "to call or invite (as witness or adviser) in a court of justice." I see advocacy as an invitation to engage with others and build stronger more just systems. A recent example in my work is with the Uganda Cancer Institute, (UCI) with whom Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has had a long term relationship building the medical staff. The nurse leader at UCI, Sister Allen and I have begun a program to support oncology nursing practice. We arranged to stream a live nursing conference between Seattle and Kampala. UCI nurses presented a case study, and one of our ONC/CRNII nurses presented a CE accredited class on central lines care. We are at the earliest phases of this collaboration between our organizations to improve outcomes for cancer patients. Recording these presentations we hope to build a repository of CE approved educational offerings that can be used by our staff as well as nurses in more remote clinical settings. I firmly believe that innovation, advocacy and advancing excellence in oncology nursing is always a collaborative, effort never a single individual’s endeavor.