Purpose/objectives: To describe ethical issues determined to be highly important to oncology nurses and to discuss strategies by which the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) can address these priority concerns.
Data sources: Survey on oncology nurses regarding ethical issues; nursing literature.
Data synthesis: Nine priority ethical issues of oncology nurses are identified. Past, current, and future ONS activities that address these priority issues are discussed.
Implications for nursing practice: ONS must support activities to increase the knowledge, confidence, and involvement of oncology nurses in discussions and decision making related to the ethical issues.
Conclusions: The top three priority ethical issues for oncology nurses are assisted suicide, end-of-life decisions, and pain management. Efforts should be made to increase ethics expertise among the ONS membership.