The latest in a line of legislation designed to promote health information technology interoperability and reduce information blocking, the 21st Century Cures Act began implementation in 2020. Since then, patients, nurses, and the entire healthcare team have appreciated benefits while also confronting challenges—namely with patients having immediate access to their health information and results before their nurse or other healthcare professional can explain the results in context.

During extended treatment and end-of-life care, patients, their family and caregivers, and the healthcare team can form close bonds and relationships. Those ties are abruptly severed when a patient dies, leaving each party to grieve alone. For healthcare professionals, sending a condolence card can provide closure for themselves and support for a deceased patient’s family, a team of nurses reported in an article published in the December 2023 issue of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.

On February 27, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication to patients and healthcare providers about the potential risk for serious complications with BioZorb Marker and BioZorb LP Marker devices by Hologic, Inc., which are implanted in soft tissue, including breast tissue, to mark a site for medical procedures (e.g., radiation therapy for breast cancer treatment).

More than 60% of uninsured or underinsured individuals who seek cancer screening have at least one barrier to care, a team of researchers and clinicians reported in study results presented at the Academy of Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators 14th Annual Navigation and Survivorship Conference. They also demonstrated that a free, community-based cancer screening and navigation program can identify those barriers and facilitate referrals to community partner organizations or other resources.

This ONS resource was produced for educational purposes only. Refer to the full talquetamab-tgvs (Talvey™) package insert for all details. 

An estimated 35 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2050, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in February 2024, a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022. Yet according to survey responses across 115 countries, most parts of the world do not have sufficient funding for cancer and palliative care services, WHO said. Additionally, the data showed “striking inequities in the cancer burden” based on the Human Development Index and “significant global inequities in cancer services” between high- and low-income countries.

Behind closed doors, House Republicans have shifted from optimistically cautious to expecting a government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will have to choose in coming weeks between a fight with Democrats that threatens a shutdown, or a deal with Democrats that threatens his job. The government will start a partial shutdown unless a budget or spending stopgap is passed by March 1.

The idea of cancer survivorship care has a longstanding history, but in the current landscape, the imperative to deliver that care has never been more pressing. During the 1970s, about one in two people diagnosed with cancer survived at least five years, but because of advancements in screening and treatment, now more than two in three survive that long. As a result, the number of cancer survivors has significantly increased: As of January 2022, the United States had 18.1 million cancer survivors, which is more than 5% of the U.S. population.  

Some young adult patients who receive fertility-sparing surgery for early-stage cervical cancer may be able to extend their follow-up intervals to 6 or even 12 months, researchers reported in study results published in Lancet Oncology.

Caring for a loved one with cancer is an act of love and compassion—an act that the majority of the 18 million individuals living with cancer in the United States rely primarily on unpaid family and friend caregivers to provide. Those caregivers rarely have formal training, and many do not have adequate support to navigate the complexities of medical and nursing care.