“Nursing ethics is relationship centered because when your friend, family member, or colleague becomes a patient, that relationship can’t be uninformed by how you know that person before they got sick. The first thing is to recognize you know them, and caring or them poses some fairly unique challenges in terms of, ‘How do I maintain professional boundaries?’” Lucia D. Wocial, PhD, RN, FAAN, HEC-C, senior clinical ethicist at the Lynch Center for Ethics at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, about the ethical considerations and implications of providing cancer care when people you know become the patient—whether they’re a friend, family member, or a colleague. You can earn free NCPD contact hours after listening to this episode and completing the evaluation linked below. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by March 31, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to the ethical issues surrounding caring for personal acquaintances. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation to earn free NCPD. Learn more about the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. Learn more about National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16. Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 21: Normalizing the Use of Advance Directives in Cancer Care Episode 78: Ethical Distress Impacts Nursing Practice ONS Voice resources: Ethics in nursing topic tag Advance care planning topic tag My Practice video: Advance Care Planning Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Strategies to Mitigate Moral Distress in Oncology Nursing Advance Care Planning: Having Goals-of-Care Conversations in Oncology Nursing Advance Care Planning: Advanced Practice Provider–Initiated Discussions and Their Effects on Patient-Centered End-of-Life Care ONS Moral Resilience Huddle Card™ ONS Nurse Well-Being Learning Library ONS Advance Care Planning Worksheet ONS Advance Care Planning Video National Council for State Boards of Nursing: Information on professional boundaries VitalTalk training program: IMPACT-ICU Nursing Code of Ethics The Conversation Project Conversation tools and games: Hello GoWish card game To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From Today’s Episode “Nursing ethics is relationship centered because when your friend, family member, or colleague becomes a patient, that relationship can’t be uninformed by how you know that person before they got sick. The first thing is to recognize you know them, and caring or them poses some fairly unique challenges in terms of, ‘How do I maintain professional boundaries?’” Timestamp (TS) 02:55 “Many oncology nurses will see patients over years, so they develop relationships with them, and maybe you see those patients outside of the hospital. It’s hard to turn on and off the professional you from the personal you when those natural relationships form. So, how can you prepare yourself for that? One is: Think about it. If you’re in an environment like a small town or at an important cancer center even in a mid to large city, if you are the cancer center, people are going to come and want to be cared for. So, chances are pretty good that you will, one day, encounter someone that you know in this professional capacity.” TS 09:30 “It’s challenging because there’s this