[Oncology nursing research in the USA].
Cancer treatment requires a comprehensive team of multidisciplinary health care professionals, and especially nursing is central to provide the complementary care aspect of the cure objective. Nurses involved in cancer care provide public education about the disease, its prevention, screening and early diagnosis. Also they have an important role for patients with any stage of cancer. Oncology nursing as a specialty in the U.S.A. is relatively recent as an organized profession. There have been an increasing number of researches in this field, since the first national cancer nursing conference was held in 1973 and the first national Oncology Nursing Society Congress in 1975. Psychosocial issue is a major area in oncology nursing research, which is discussed in more details in this article.