All Articles

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.

Oncology nurse navigators (ONNs) must be able to recognize and address numerous complications that occur during and after treatment, including myelosuppression and pain.

There are numerous complications that may develop in patients with cancer; some are related to the disease itself, whereas others are associated with agents or combination regimens used during the course of treatment. This article addresses issues related to 2 complications that commonly occur in patients with cancer: myelosuppression and pain.

With navigation and certification, the multitude of terms such as nurse navigator, patient navigator, lay navigator, and even GPS nurse can lead to confusion. The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators is working to develop certification plans that are tailored to oncology nurse navigators. Cancer survivors are often confused too, for different reasons: they may have a difficult time remembering all the details of their cancer treatment. Survivorship care plans may be able to help.

Compared with other healthcare professions, patient navigation is still a relatively new discipline. Thus, significant confusion remains regarding the role, scope of practice, and ideal training and credentials for patient navigators. The George Washington University Cancer Institute has developed Core Competencies for Oncology Patient Navigators and recently released a competency-based online training program that is freely available to patient navigators.