Clinical Nurse Specialist, Adolescents & Young Adult Oncology

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and it’s only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

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Position Summary
Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer aged 15 to 39 are a constituency of patients facing disparities of care affecting their quality of life and treatment outcomes. The AYA patients who develop cancer have unique psychosocial and medical needs and concerns during their illness trajectory. The AYA program operates in parallel and complimentary to established disease site treatment pathways at Princess Margaret.

The AYA Program at PM is one of a kind in Canada. There are approximately 1400 adults under the age of 39 years diagnosed with cancer each year at PM. The AYA Program serves this population, as well as patients referred from other cancer programs, with the aim of supporting young people through all stages of their disease trajectory-from diagnosis to survivorship and/or palliation.

The AYA CNS is a health care professional who will be able to work independently and offer developmentally appropriate, tailored assessments to the AYA population. This individual should be skilled at supportive counselling with knowledge of coping with cancer, body image, sexual health, social isolation, navigating the cancer system and fertility preservation. Depending on the assessed patient’s needs, the AYA CNS will facilitate referrals to supports within and external to PM. This will require the successful candidate to develop a broad and deep understanding of all of the hospital and community based resources that are appropriate for the AYA population.

The AYA CNS holds a leadership position within the AYA program and plays a pivotal role in the patients care trajectory, connecting them with other members of the team and ensuring that their needs are met throughout their cancer experience. Therefore, the AYA CNS needs to have a good understanding of cancers that affect young people and corresponding treatments (chemotherapy, radiation, bone marrow transplant and surgery). The successful candidate will be working as part of a multi-disciplinary supportive care team with highly specialized skills in patient navigation, education and counselling.

Aside from clinical responsibilities, the AYA Clinical Nurse Specialist will lead the development of patient engagement activities, quality improvement initiatives, maintain and support the monthly patient meet-up groups and other program activities. The AYA clinical nurse specialist will also participate in staff and patient education related to AYA care.

Duties

Clinical Care:

In addition to working alongside some of the most talented and inspiring healthcare professionals in the world, UHN offers a wide range of benefits, programs and perks. It is the comprehensiveness of these offerings that makes it a differentiating factor, allowing you to find value where it matters most to you, now and throughout your career at UHN.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly.

Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any information provided by a candidate be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, UHN reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of their application.

UHN is an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive recruitment process and workplace. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process. Applicants need to make their requirements known.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.