Health disparities in cancer care: Exploring Canadian, American and international perspectives

CANO/ACIO’s vision is to be “a driving force nationally and an influencing force internationally in advancing excellence in cancer nursing across the cancer control spectrum.” We want to see “Canadians across the cancer spectrum have timely access to high quality nursing” (CANO/ACIO, p. 8). With this end in view, a panel of experts came together to explore health inequities in cancer care from a variety of national and international perspectives at the 25 th Annual CANO/ACIO conference, held in Vancouver in October 2013. Represented on the panel were experts in health disparities research (Dr. Colleen Varcoe and Dr. Christina Sinding), past presidents of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) (Dr. Mary Gullatte) and the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) (Dr. Greta Cummings), and leadership from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) (Dr. Margaret Fitch). Oncology nurses are uniquely positioned to positively influence health equity in cancer care at national and international levels. What follows are summaries of the panelists’ presentations.