December 2015 Vol 6, No 6
Lillie D. Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, introduces the December issue of the Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship, commenting on long-term survivorship care, the Sixth Annual Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators Conference highlights, and more of this month’s content.
Navigators are uniquely positioned to help patients survive the acute phase of cancer and to reach survivorship successfully. A key to contentment after treatment and into survivorship is successfully integrating cancer as a new dimension of one’s life.
Nurse navigators play a critical role in the delivery of quality survivorship care in the posttreatment setting, connect patients to critical resources, and facilitate patient-centered communication and care coordination among providers.
Samantha Muktar, MBBS, MRCS, BMedSci, Paul T. R., Thiruchelvam, BSC, MBBS, FRCS, PhD, Dimitri Hadjiminas, MPHi, FRCS
Patients with breast cancer preferred standard clinician-led care to a patient-led process after initial treatment, as well as clinical follow-up by a medical oncologist or breast cancer surgeon. Assessment of patients’ expectations can lead to a follow-up program that meets their needs.
At the
Sixth Annual Navigation & Survivorship Conference, held October 1-4, 2015, in Atlanta, GA, and its regional West Coast meeting, held May
18-20, 2015, in Seattle, WA, more than 1000 navigation professionals, including oncology nurse navigators, registered nurses, patient navigators,
case managers, social workers, and practice managers, convened to discuss the evolving roles of navigation and survivorship in
cancer care. This monograph is a synthesis of the proceedings of the 2 meetings; discussion points include best practices in navigation,
survivorship, and psychosocial care and implementation of the revised Commission on Cancer (CoC) standards for the benefi t of improved
quality of patient care.
Welcome to our first newsletter in the Conquering the Multiple Myeloma Continuum series, which focuses on adherence to oral medications in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). In this first newsletter, you will learn about some of the major causes of nonadherence that patients and their providers face.
Recent advancements in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) have led to
significant improvements in patient outcomes, including unprecedented survival
rates. Such progress has allowed a paradigm shift toward a chronic care
model, with attention increasingly focused on improving patients’ quality of life.
Oral oncolytics offer the ease of self-administration to patients. There is
no prodding for stubborn veins, and no need for a port. Therefore, oral therapies
empower patients, and often lead to improved quality of life.
Treating cancer with oral medications that are taken at home sounds like a great
idea, and it is, once adherence barriers are addressed. Likewise, years ago it was
unthinkable that surviving cancer would have a downside, but because late
and long-term effects of cancer treatments were not adequately addressed, survivorship
quality was suboptimal. The good news is that if survivorship issues can be resolved,
so can the problems associated with oral therapy adherence.
Aaron D. Bleznak, MD, MBA, FACS discussed
the intent of the new 2012 Commission on Cancer
(CoC) standards, and what navigators need to do to
comply. “You’re members of a team whose goal is to enhance
the quality of cancer care that you’re providing to
your patient population,” he said at the Sixth Annual
Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators
(AONN+) Conference in Atlanta, GA. “Consequently,
you have to work with the team to achieve accreditation,
and retain accreditation.”
Jennifer R. Klemp, PhD, MPH presented “Genetics and Genomics: How Does
Navigation Fit In?” at the Sixth Annual Academy of
Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+)
Conference in Atlanta, GA. “The real role of genomic
medicine and where we’re going is that we do want to
be more personalized,” Dr Klemp said. “The larger
panel in genomic testing is going to keep taking us in
that direction.”
“What I hope to see within the next 10 years is that when a patient is diagnosed with cancer, they get a palliative care person on their team and they get a rehab professional on their team from diagnosis,” stated Matthew R. LeBlanc, BSN, RN, OCN.
Carol Gunsch, RN, BScN, CONc, de Souza nurse, and Maureen Watt-Smit, RN, BScN, CONc, de Souza nurse, share Cancer Care Ontario’s personal approach to cancer care through standardized psychosocial distress screening and management.
San Francisco, CA—Sexual dysfunction is prevalent
in women with breast cancer, and is a consequence
of treatment that pre- and postmenopausal women
receive. As reported at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium,
however, the safety and efficacy of available treatments
remain understudied at this time.
Fertility and early menopause after cancer can pose
challenging emotional and medical issues for patients
and their clinicians. Survivors who become
infertile because of their cancer treatment are at an increased
risk for emotional distress and are often affected
by unresolved grief and depression, according to Ann H.
Partridge, MD, MPH, Medical Oncologist, Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute, Boston.
The multidisciplinary care model is perceived to be
more patient-centered and efficient for patients
with lung cancer than the serial care model, according
to Satish K. Kedia, PhD, Professor, Division of
Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health,
University of Memphis, TN, and colleagues.
At the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient
Navigators (AONN+) Sixth Annual Conference,
held in Atlanta, GA, in October, Barbara
Antolino-Smith, RN, BSN, CPN, Pediatric Oncology
Nurse, Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, PA, was
the recipient of the 2015 Oncology Nurse Excellence
(ONE) Award.
Patients’ experiences, self-awareness, self-confidence,
dignity, and personal integrity represent the
fundamental obligations of psychosocial care, according
to John Wynn, MD, DFAPA, Clinical Professor,
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
University of Washington School of Medicine, Medical
Director, PsychoOncology & Supportive Care, Swedish
Cancer Institute, Seattle, WA. Dr Wynn went on to
describe the significant role of oncology psychosocial
care during his keynote address at the 2015 Association
of Oncology Social Work 31st Annual Conference in
Seattle, WA.
Financial distress and toxicity are ongoing issues for
patients with cancer, Dan Sherman, MA, LPC,
Founder/President, The NaVectis Group, Caledonia,
MI, explained in his presentation about the importance
of financial navigation at the 2015 Association of
Oncology Social Work 31st Annual Conference in Seattle,
WA. The top concern of patients with cancer is no
longer a fear of dying, but fear of the financial obligations.
“Forty-two percent of insured cancer patients express
a significant or catastrophic financial burden….
That’s almost 50% of the oncology population saying
this is catastrophic,” he said.
The following trials represent a selection of key clinical trials that are currently recruiting patients with prostate cancer for inclusion in investigations of new therapies or new combinations of available therapies for patients with prostate cancer.
Results 1 - 20 of 20