From Single Site to Societal Belief: The Impact of Pediatric Oncology Nursing Research Susan M. Schneider, PhD, RN, CS, AOCN, Pamela S. Hinds, PhD, RN, CS, and Michele Pritchard, MSN, RN, CPNP This review describes the evolution of pediatric oncology nursing research over the past 25 years. It highlights practice-changing contributions from single-site studies and from multisite trials and discusses strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration. Technological advances that will alter the way in which studies are conducted and findings are disseminated will influence the future of nursing research. Studies implemented by pediatric nurse researchers will continue to influence practice and change how we, and others, view the experience of childhood cancer.  2001 by Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses D URING THE PAST 25 YEARS, nursing research has had a positive impact on the specialty of pediatric oncology nursing in vari- ous ways and through diverse methods. The diversity has included single-site and multisite studies—a lone researcher doing work at a single institution and multidisciplinary research teams who represent more than one institution collab- orating on the same study. Individually and collectively the research implemented by pedi- atric oncology nurse researchers has helped to change the way we practice and even the way that we and others outside of the specialty think about childhood cancer. Examples of the im- pact already made through nursing research and those likely to have impact in the future will be discussed in this article. The examples include a reflection on the early and continuing work by Dr. Ida Martinson in the care of the child dying from cancer, a description of the practice-chang- ing contributions from single-site studies and from multisite trials, and the likely future effect of technology on the conduct and distribution of research findings. The Impact of Pediatric Oncology Nursing Research on Societal Beliefs About Dying Children An example of a nursing research program that was created in response to an immediate clinical care crisis but that also helped to change societal views about how and where a child may die is seen in the work of Ida Martinson, PhD, RN. As a new researcher looking to identify an area of study to pursue, Dr. Martinson was impressed by a physician colleague’s dilemma of having to admit a young boy with terminal cancer to the hospital to die (I.M. Martinson, personal communication, December 1, 2000). As Martinson recalls, “immediately it struck me, because I had just a year earlier cared for my father-in-law at home: why admit a child to the hospital if he was going to die?” Out of a prac- tical issue of improving the potential care for the child and his family, Dr. Martinson developed a From the Graduate Oncology Nursing Program, Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, NC, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. Address reprint requests to Susan M. Schneider, PhD, RN, CS, AOCN, Director, Graduate Oncology Nursing Program, Duke University School of Nursing, Box 3322 DUMC, Durham, NC 27710. © 2001 by Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses 1043-4542/01/1804-0004$35.00/0 doi:10.1053/jpon.2001.24797 164 Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, Vol 18, No 4 (July-August), 2001: pp 164-170