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I began my journey in oncology nursing more than 40 years ago and have never looked back.

I spent 8 long months in a city far from my own, undergoing intense chemotherapy and then an autologous stem cell transplant. Eventually, after a longer-than-I-would-have-liked stay in the hospital and another few weeks living close to the hospital in case of emergency, I was sent back home with a bagful of medicines and instructions on how/when/with what to take them.

I’ve never met MMA, but I can tell one very important thing about her from the blog she wrote about adherence to therapy at home.

Although it may be summer, which is known for being a time that employees take vacations, we all know that there is no vacation for our patients who have been diagnosed and are undergoing treatment for their cancer.

Continuing with our series of various unbranded offerings provided by pharmaceuticals and other companies that provide diagnostics and treatments for cancer patients, this list below comes from Merck.

Coordinating care; overcoming patient, provider, and health system barriers; and reducing delays across the care continuum have been long-standing challenges for healthcare managers.

Encompassing 420 counties in 13 states from southern New York to northern Mississippi, Appalachia is largely rural with a population characterized by a high poverty rate, a low educational level, a high rate of uninsurance or underinsurance, and limited access to healthcare. All pose substantial barriers to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment and are associated with increased cancer mortality.

On behalf of myself and the wonderful AONN staff and Leadership Council that I have the privilege of working with, we hope that you are enjoying the new features and benefits we have been launching for you through the AONN website.

Most navigators are familiar with the large national patient advocacy organizations that provide various resources for patients that can expedite our ability to reduce barriers impeding diagnosis and treatment, but there are actually additional resources that you may not be aware of that I want to tell you about. These resources are from pharmaceutical companies and other device and laboratory testing companies.

In March, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for genetic/familial high-risk assessment for breast and ovarian cancers were updated. Among the updates is a section on “gene panels.”