Ensuring patients adhere to oral medications for cancer can be a complex task, especially if patients have low health literacy. Oral medications for cancer continue to be more prevalent, but rates of adherence to oral therapy vary widely by population, cancer type, and level of education. At the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, researchers presented the results of a study that hypothesized health literacy’s connection to oral medication adherence and whether a multilevel intervention approach would result in greater adherence.

As many as 25%–30% of all new antineoplastic agents in development are estimated to be oral, and almost half of the 300 medications in phase II and III clinical trials are oral medications. A paradigm shift is taking place in chemotherapy delivery. During a session at the Oncology Nurse Advisor Navigation Summit, ONS member Jan Tipton, MSN, RN, AOCN®, at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio, discussed how cancer is making a shift to oral medications.