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.
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

Subscribe Today!

To sign up for our print publication or e-newsletter, please enter your contact information below.

I'd like to receive:

  • First Name *
    Last Name *
     
     
    Profession or Role
    Primary Specialty or Disease State
    Country