Table 1.

Nursing Discipline Development Timeline

Year	Development activity	Comments
1955	Pediatric cooperative groups funded by National Cancer Institute (NCI)
1979	Nursing Committee established in Children’s Cancer Group (CCG)
1981	Nursing Discipline established in Pediatric Oncology Group (POG)
1981–1997	Nursing activities in the pediatric cooperative groups	Initial focus on facilitating protocol implementation Moved toward developing nursing research studies over time Growing support of nursing committees in the cooperative groups Paucity of nurse scientists within the cooperative groups
1997	Initiation of intergroup nursing collaboration (independent of cooperative group merger)
2000	Merger of 4 pediatric cooperative groups to form the Children’s Oncology Group (COG)	Provided opportunity to create a new structure for clinical trials nursing and nursing research in cooperative group setting. Recognized need to recruit nursing scientists to build a nursing research agenda.
2000	Inaugural State of the Science in Pediatric Oncology Nursing Research	Highlighted new and promising nursing research programs to align with and contribute to scientific mission of COG Strengthened working relationships among researchers, staff registered nurses (RNs), Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) Fostered collaboration with other disciplines
2000-present	Nursing scholars	PhD-APN (nursing scholar dyad) partnership to move specific area of research forward in group based on inaugural state of the science groups. Appointment to disease and scientific committees (Neurocognitive effects – Central Nervous System tumor, Fatigue - Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia outcomes, Coping – Adolescent and Young Adult, Self-care - Supportive care) Oncology Nursing Foundation funded initial travel expenses for nursing scholars to attend COG meetings Unanticipated outcome of nursing scholar program included significant number of COG APNs completing doctoral studies (n=10 since inaugural nursing scholar assignments) and now becoming novice nursing researchers.
2004	Second State of the Science in Pediatric Oncology Nursing Research	Added 3 nursing scholar groups: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), Parent treatment decision making, End of life/Palliative care
2006	Developing Nurse-Led Interdisciplinary Research in the Cooperative Group Setting	Oncology Nursing Society invitational meeting for interdisciplinary cooperative group teams to develop a nurse-led research study concept. COG team focused on fatigue and related symptoms in Hodgkin Disease.
2008–2012	Nursing Research Traineeships	Nursing Discipline portion of COG Chair’s grant included funding for developing the next generation of nursing scholars. Three rounds of 2 year traineeships have been awarded to six trainees thus far.
2000-present	Nursing Discipline Protocol Development	ACCL01P3: Differences in Parental Caregiving Demands in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia by Length of Infusion Therapy ANUR0631: Stories and Music for Adolescent/Young Adult Resilience During Transplant ACNS0331: A Study Evaluating Limited Target Volume Boost Irradiation and Reduced Dose Craniospinal Radiotherapy 18.00 Gy and Chemotherapy In Children with Newly Diagnosed Standard Risk Medulloblastoma: A Phase III Double Randomized Trial (Embedded aim examining child functional status and quality of life led by nursing scholars) ANUR1131: Stories through Music for Adolescent/Young Adults and Parents (SMART+P) during Treatment provides
2007-present	PRO-Resource Center	Nursing Discipline collaborated with Cancer Control Committee to develop a Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) resource center to advance inclusion of pediatric PROs on disease trials.
2009	Strategic planning	With expansion of nursing scientists and growing cadre of young investigators, need to move from nursing scholar dyad approach to capitalize on growing network of pediatric oncology nursing scientists – nursing scholar network now open to all interested individuals. Monthly conference calls provide support and networking and identifying promising studies to move forward in group.
2011	Organizing framework adopted	Strategic planning yielded a number of suggestions including need for an organizing framework to define the focus of Nursing Discipline.
2012	Evidence-Based Practice initiative	Mentored opportunities for nurses to develop evidence summaries to inform clinical trials nursing practice.
2013-ongoing	Areas for future focus	Current focus on research to inform effective delivery of patient/family education and reducing illness-related distress