In a world that is still acclimatizing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fragility of many aspects of our society has been laid bare. Global health care systems were among the most seriously affected by the SARS-CoV-2 which has put a spotlight on the integral role of nurses not only in day-to-day patient care and running of healthcare facilities but also in public education and awareness campaigns, public health policymaking, and population-based medicine. 

In this podcast, we hear from two oncology nursing leaders at the International Conference on Cancer nursing 2022 (ICCN), which took place virtually this year. Patsy Yates, AM, PhD, RN, FACN, FAAN, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, speaks on challenges experienced during the pandemic and positive initiatives that have arisen as a result. Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, DrPH, FAAN, University of California San Francisco School of Nursing, San Francisco, CA, advocates for the nursing community to embrace their influence on public health policy. We also catch up with Sarah Hargreaves, PhD, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, who discusses findings from a survey on the impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer and mesothelioma nurses during the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) Conference 2022.