Commentary

Maintenance therapy has begun to emerge as a treatment standard for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease has not progressed after 4 to 6 cycles of frontline chemotherapy.

Significant advances in treating non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been made over the past 10 years; nevertheless, survival im provement in this disease pales compared with many other solid tumors. Because maintenance chemotherapy offers improved survival in NSCLC, patients and doctors are justifiably excited.

With 11.7 million cancer survivors in the United States, the role of navigation in survivorship is growing. As our population ages, navigators will need to focus on the specific needs of the older and elderly patients they navigate through survivorship care.

Nurse navigation and distress monitoring will go hand in hand as the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer institutes its Cancer Program Standards 2012: Ensuring Patient-Centered Care as part of its accreditation standards beginning January 1, 2012.

Outcomes from the roundtable held in conjunction with the George Washington Cancer Institute Cancer Survivorship Research and Health Disparities Symposium have far-reaching implications that will impact clinical practice and how we, as clinicians, address cancer survivorship care in the future.

Since the publication of the positive results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST)—the first lung cancer screening trial to demonstrate a reduction in lung cancer mortality—in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011, several uncertainties regarding implementation of widespread lung cancer screening have arisen.

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.

It has always been my opinion that nurses are often expected to be the healthcare professionals who “do everything.”

Advances in cancer care and treatment have led to excellent success in the “fight against cancer.” Millions of lives have been saved through the use of more targeted treatments and medications.

JONS editorial board member Mandi Pratt-Chapman advocates for a return to basic ethics to guide us in attending to LGBTQ-specific needs of our healthcare system.

For patients with cancer, repeal of the ACA would be catastrophic. Health reform expanded health insurance coverage for 20 million Americans, the majority of whom had been uninsured for more than 3 years.

In an effort to understand a day in the life of a thoracic navigator, we spent some time with Wendy Brooks, RN, ONN-CG. Ms Brooks obtained her certification as generalist oncology nurse navigator through the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) and was instrumental in the development of the AONN+ specialty certification exam in thoracic oncology.

JONS Editor in Chief, Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, ONN-CG, offers her insights on the timely topic of commercially available genetic testing.

A frank discussion about managing cancer pain in the current opioid crisis environment.

A personal narrative about the learning curve of a new navigator who spent the past 10 years in an outpatient infusion clinic.

A commentary on the government’s efforts to reduce the price of drugs for patients who have cancer or other chronic illnesses.

Find out if your navigation program is limited by these barriers.

A reflection on the beginnings of navigation and a vision of its future.

What if ovarian cancer treatment depended less on where the cancer is and more on what it is? This commentary explores that shift and why it could change care fast.