"Any time the patient hears the word 'cancer,' they shut down a little bit, right? They may not hear everything that the oncologist or urologist, or whoever is talking to them about their treatment options, is saying. The oncology nurse is a great person to sit down with the patient and go over the information with them at a level they can understand a little bit more. To go over all the treatment options presented by the physician, and again, make sure that we understand their goals of care," ONS member Clara Beaver, DNP, RN, AOCNS^®, ACNS-BC, manager of clinical education and clinical nurse specialist at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about prostate cancer treatment considerations for nurses. 

Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 

Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by November 21, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to the treatment of prostate cancer.

Episode Notes 

• Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.
• ONS Podcast™ episodes:
  • Episode 387: Prostate Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities
  • Episode 373: Biomarker Testing in Prostate Cancer
  • Episode 324: Pharmacology 101: LHRH Antagonists and Agonists
  • Episode 321: Pharmacology 101: CYP17 Inhibitors
  • Episode 208: How to Have Fertility Preservation Conversations With Your Patients
  • Episode 194: Sex Is a Component of Patient-Centered Care
• ONS Voice articles:
  • Communication Models Help Nurses Confidently Address Sexual Concerns in Patients With Cancer
  • Exercise Before ADT Treatment Reduces Rate of Side Effects
  • Frank Conversations Enhance Sexual and Reproductive Health Support During Cancer
  • Nurses Are Key to Patients Navigating Genitourinary Cancers
  • Sexual Considerations for Patients With Cancer
  • The Case of the Genomics-Guided Care for Prostate Cancer
• ONS books:
  • Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice (Second Edition)
  • Manual for Radiation Oncology Nursing Practice and Education (Fifth Edition)
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles:
  • Brachytherapy: Increased Use in Patients With Intermediate- and High-Risk Prostate Cancers
  • Physical Activity: A Feasibility Study on Exercise in Men Newly Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer
  • The Role of the Advanced Practice Provider in Bone Health Management for the Prostate Cancer Population
• Oncology Nursing Forum articles:
  • An Exploratory Study of Cognitive Function and Central Adiposity in Men Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer
  • ONS Guidelines™ for Cancer Treatment–Related Hot Flashes in Women With Breast Cancer and Men With Prostate Cancer
• Other ONS resources:
  • Biomarker Database (refine by prostate cancer)
  • Biomarker Testing in Prostate Cancer: The Role of the Oncology Nurse
  • Brachytherapy Huddle Card
  • External Beam Radiation Huddle Card
  • Hormone Therapy Huddle Card
  • Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone Antagonist Huddle Card
  • Sexuality Huddle Card
• American Cancer Society prostate cancer page
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network homepage

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. 

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org

Highlights From This Episode

"I think it's important to note that urologists are usually the ones that are doing the diagnosis of prostate cancer and really start that staging of prostate cancer. And the medical oncologists usually are not consulted until the patient is at a greater stage of prostate cancer. I find that it's important to state because a lot of our patients start with urologists, and by the time they've come to us, they're a lot further staged. But once a prostate cancer has been suspected, the patient needs to be staged for the extent of disease prior to that physician making any treatment recommendations. The staging includes doing a core biopsy of the prostate gland. During this core biopsy, they take multiple different cores at different areas throughout the prostate to really look to see what the cancer looks like." TS 1:46

"[For] the very low- and low-risk group, the most common [treatment] is active surveillance. ... Patients can be offered other options such as radiation therapy or surgery if they're not happy with active surveillance. ... The intermediate-risk group has favorable and unfavorable [status]. So, if they're a favorable, their Gleason score is usually a bit lower, things are not as advanced. These patients are offered active surveillance and then either radical prostatectomy with possible removal of lymph nodes or radiation—external beam or brachytherapy. If a patient has unfavorable intermediate risk, they are offered radical prostatectomy with removal of lymph nodes, external radiation therapy plus hormone therapy, or external radiation with brachytherapy. All three of these are offered to patients, although most frequently we see that our patients are taken in for radical prostatectomy. For the high- or very high-risk [group], patients are offered radiation therapy wit