Large-volume (≥ 3 ml) intramuscular (IM) injections may not be administered often, and oncology nurses can be unfamiliar with best practices. A study found that only 32% of gluteal injections were administered into the desired IM target. This could lead to the drug being administered subcutaneously or near major nerves and blood vessels, potentially decreasing the treatment’s efficacy.

On June 29, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted marketing approval to the Praxis Extended RAS Panel (Illumina, Inc.), a next generation sequencing (NGS) test to detect certain genetic mutations in RAS genes in tumor samples of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The test is used to aid in the identification of patients who may be eligible for treatment with panitumumab (Vectibix^®, Amgen, Inc.).

Quality of life (QOL) is a complicated construct and has been defined many ways. Barbara Anne Biedrzycki, PhD, CRNP, AOCNP^®, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, presented the following view: “Quality of life is achieved when our hopes are matched and fulfilled by our experiences.” She encouraged participants to have a holistic perspective of QOL but to keep in mind that QOL is very individualized—its definition and meaning are different to each individual, and each person finds some factors to be more important than others.

“This has been a historic year in oncology pharmacology,” Rowena Schwartz, PharmD, BCOP, associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, told the audience during a session at the 42nd Annual Congress in Denver, CO. “There were new drugs, yes, but we’re really learning how to use the drugs that we have.”

The healthcare landscape is changing more rapidly than ever, and daily discoveries in genomics are leading to truly individualized care. During a session at the 42nd Annual Congress in Denver, CO, David Solit, MD, Geoffrey Beene Chair and director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), reviewed cutting-edge genomics science, its role in precision medicine, and innovative genomics programs at his institution. Solit leads a research program that seeks to identify new drug targets using genomic profiling.

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is an adverse event (AE) associated with cancer therapies that healthcare providers often underestimate. CINV can interfere with treatment compliance and adherence, and patients who experienced CINV in the first cycle of chemotherapy are almost four times more likely to experience it during subsequent treatment cycles.

Nurses and patients know that nursing care makes a difference. During a session at the 42nd Annual Congress in Denver, CO, David Rice, PhD, RN, NP, director of professional practice and education at the City of Hope National Medical Center, encouraged nurses to take strides to prove it by using benchmarks and data.

During a session at the 42nd Annual Congress in Denver, CO—on what happened to be National Nurses Day—the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) asked nurses to consider joining an initiative intended to gather, collate, and disseminate massive amounts of data to enhance evidence-based cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Carole Elledge, DNP, RN, AOCN^®, clinical program specialist at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, TX, described the concept of nursing competencies with a kitchen metaphor: “It’s kind of like baking a cake. If you’re going to bake a cake, you need all the ingredients.” For nurses, she said, the ingredients of competency include not only hands-on clinical skills, but also an ability to see past the disease, compassion, critical thinking, self-motivation, patience and insight, leadership, a team approach, and more. “There’s much more to competency than just skills.”

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer survivors that focus on healthy body weight, physical activity, and a diet high in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. To assess how adherence to those guidelines impacts disease-free survival (DFS), relapse-free survival (RFS), or overall survival (OS), researchers conducted a prospective study of 992 patients with stage III colon cancer who enrolled in an adjuvant chemotherapy clinical trial between 1991 and 2001. The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.