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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.