According to Lewis (1999):

Welsh 1999 stated:

Over the past several years there have been many changes within health care. Nurses have been undergoing changes in their role. Oncology nurses have also had to deal with these changes. They are no longer caring for a specific group of oncology patients (site specific). They are expected to care for patients no matter what their cancer site or modality of treatment.

This increased stress combined with increased numbers and acuity of patients on curative treatment protocols contributes to increased workloads. Add to that an increase in palliative and supportive patient care requirements as well as increased acuity of treatment protocols for palliative patients and the stress level escalates even more.

Oncology nurses are having difficulty trying to incorporate work and family commitments. There is a marked decrease in the morale of these nurses. The number of sick calls has increased. The number of nurses requiring extended time off due to stress has increased. The nurses remaining on duty must work short staffed due to no availability of casual staff to replace those nurses who are off sick.