Oncology Nurse AdvisorONS Congress 2026: Navigating Patients Through Lung Cancer, From Screening to Survivorship

📡 Emerging Practice Signal

Oncology nurses are reshaping lung cancer care delivery, from screening outreach to complex therapy administration, according to four nursing projects presented at the 2026 ONS Congress. The strongest signal: a nurse-led outpatient protocol for tarlatamab, a bispecific immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer, kept 20 of 22 patients out of the hospital during cycle 1 treatment using extended clinic hours, remote temperature monitoring, and next-day follow-up. Findings across all four studies reflect early-stage or small-sample evidence; none is yet practice-defining.

Clinical Considerations

• Outpatient tarlatamab administration with structured adverse event monitoring, including overnight Bluetooth temperature tracking and morning return visits, reduced avoidable admissions for immunocompromised SCLC patients
• Rural lung cancer screening faces compounding barriers: stigma, fatalism, financial toxicity, and inaccurate tobacco history documentation in EMRs, with half of high-risk patients not responding to three outreach attempts by any method
• Oncology nurses should ask patients directly who they consider their primary source of social support, as gender, employment status, and cultural background all influence perceived support in ways demographic assumptions miss
• Partner-inclusive survivorship plans showed reduced sedentary time and improved exercise capacity at 4 and 8 weeks in a 40-person pilot; findings are preliminary but suggest dyad-based care is feasible

Practice Applications

• Ask high-risk patients directly about tobacco history — EMR pack-year documentation is frequently incomplete or missing, leaving eligible patients off screening lists
• Assess social support by patient self-report, not by marital status or household structure
• Advocate for extended-hours or modified workflow models when administering high-risk immunotherapies in outpatient settings; structured monitoring protocols can replace routine hospitalization
• Include partners or caregivers in survivorship goal-setting conversations, particularly for patients with localized lung cancer completing primary treatment