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The past decade has witnessed dramatic progress in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), which has resulted in unprecedented improvements in survival outcomes.

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.

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.