Oncology Nurse

Who these nurses care for

Patients receiving cancer treatment across inpatient and outpatient settings.

What the shift actually looks like

Complex patients on long treatment pathways, with symptom management and end-of-life conversations woven through routine care. Emotional load is the retention factor.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required

BLS; OCN and ONS chemotherapy certification valued

Typical ratio

Typically 1:4 inpatient

What to specify when you send the req

Inpatient vs outpatient, whether the unit does stem cell transplant, and chemotherapy administration.

Why this role is hard to fill

Transplant experience is a distinct specialty within oncology and worth naming separately if you need it.

What candidates ask before accepting

Answering these in the req itself shortens the process considerably, because they are the questions that otherwise surface at offer stage and cause declines: Whether the unit does stem cell transplant, chemotherapy certification, and psychosocial support for staff.

Contract or permanent?

Contract for census swings, leave coverage and seasonal surge. Per diem to protect ratios without expanding core FTE. Permanent when the seat is structural. The expensive mistake is running contract labour for eighteen months on a role that was always permanent.

Licensure

Registered nursing is covered by the Nurse Licensure Compact in most of the country, so a multistate license lets a nurse work across member states without a new application. Thirteen jurisdictions sit outside it — Alaska, California, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands — and in those markets every out-of-state nurse needs a single-state license first. Those are the markets where reqs stay open longest.

How we work this req

Every candidate is spoken to before you see them, with licensure for your state, certifications and unit-specific competency confirmed before submittal. We screen to the credential the unit actually needs rather than the title on the posting. Rates sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown.