Topic

Coordinated Care

ASCO Annual Meeting

Patient-Provider Communication on Immunotherapy Can Be Improved

Guidelines regarding healthcare provider communication about immunotherapy do not currently exist. Researchers sought to determine patient and provider preferences for this type of information and to identify barriers to communication about immunotherapy. The study’s findings were presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

ASCO Annual Meeting

Discussion About Goals of Care May Improve Patient Understanding

Discussing goals of care with patients with advanced cancer can provide better information on the disease, treatment options, and prognosis, as well as elicit patient values. A randomized, controlled trial tested a coaching model to improve healthcare providers’ communication on goals of care. The study’s findings were presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Darcy Burbage

Coordinated Care

Creating and Sustaining Survivorship Care Plans in Practice

With more than 15.5 million Americans living beyond cancer, it’s no surprise that more attention is being paid to survivorship than ever before. Once treatment ends, patients can be thrown back into a world after cancer with little or no attention paid to their concerns about recurrence, late effects from treatment, how to follow up with their future care, and a great many more unknowns.

Puzzle cube illustration

Coordinated Care

The Impact of Comorbidities on Patient Care

More than ever before, oncology nurses are required to provide multifaceted care when it comes to managing patients with cancer. As the population of patients with cancer continues to age and cancer becomes more of a chronic condition, oncology nurses are seeing more patients who exhibit comorbidities during their cancer journey.

January 30, 2017

Nurse navigator helping patient

The Evolving Role of Oncology Nurse Navigators

Care coordination is an integral component of every oncology nurse’s job, but the specific role of oncology nurse navigator (ONN) was developed to help address certain barriers to care, including difficulty navigating the healthcare system, poor communication, and lack of resources.

January 28, 2017

Patient Financial Resources

Coordinated Care

Help Your Patients Find Financial Resources

The financial burden associated with cancer treatment is reaching new heights. In the heat of making decisions, patients and their families may drastically deplete their finances to reap the advantage a new drug may offer.

January 03, 2017

Care coordination

How Do You Support Individual Expertise in a Coordinated Cancer Team Setting?

When we talk about advocating for patients, whether it’s as an oncology nurse or an oncology social worker, we’re talking about optimal care and quality of life. You could have the greatest treatment in the world, but if your patient doesn’t have transportation to get to that treatment, what’s the point?

October 04, 2016

Coordinated Care

Advocating for Your Patients

Nurse navigators are advocating for patients in institutions across the country, setting an example for what oncology nurses at any level can do to help their patients through the cancer journey.

October 04, 2016

Access to cancer care

Improving Access to Care Is a Priority to the Cancer Moonshot

In 1965, the monthly cost of cancer care was $100. By 2013, that number had risen to nearly $10,000. The skyrocketing cost of cancer drugs has, in part, played a major role in limiting access to care for patients with cancer. But money isn’t the only barrier: Location of treatment centers, lack of transportation, socioeconomic challenges, along with myriad cultural differences can play into the ways patients do—or don’t—access care.

August 23, 2016

Oncology Medical Personnel

Clinical Practice

CMS Announces Oncology Care Model

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have opened a demonstration project in an effort to streamline the provision of care and the reimbursement processes associated with cancer care.

ASCO Annual Meeting

Nurse-Led Patient Navigation Program Improves Cancer Survival

Patient navigation programs can help to improve outcomes and reduce disparities; however, little is known about their effects on clinical outcomes, such as survival. In a retrospective, cohort study, a nurse-led patient navigation program was initiated to assess 12-month survival outcomes. The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Access to cancer care

Oncology Nurses Have Important Roles in Clinical Trial Access and Enrollment

When President Obama announced the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative during his State of the Union address in January 2016, he set lofty goals for oncology professionals. One of those goals called for increased access to and participation in clinical trials. Clinical trial data are integral in getting cutting-edge treatments to market, where they can help improve cancer care. However, many patients aren’t fully educated about the efficacy of these new forms of treatment and what these trials entail.

Oncology patient financial advocacy

Coordinated Care

The Case of the Looming Medical Bankruptcy

Marcie, age 34, comes to the outpatient infusion center to receive her final cycle of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Jared, one of the infusion nurses, notices that Marcie appears unusually withdrawn. When questioned, she tearfully explains that she and her husband are considering bankruptcy.

January 19, 2016

Nurse and oncology patient discuss mammograms

Online Tool Helps Women With Mammogram Decisions

The advice women get from expert panels differs on when and how often they should have mammograms. Many groups now advise a woman in her 40s to make an individual decision by talking with her healthcare provider about the pros and cons of mammography as well as her individual risk.

January 19, 2016

Oncology nurse education about anemia

What Do Oncology Nurses Need to Know About Blood Transfusions for Anemia?

Approximately 90% of patients with cancer experience anemia because of disease process, treatment side effects, or coexisting conditions.

Care coordination

Nurse Practitioners Are Oncology's Best Kept Secret

“She is super smart, highly qualified, and handpicked by your physician.” Our patient care coordinator often says this when she's on the phone talking face-to-face with patients to set up their next office visit. She encourages patients to accept their upcoming appointment with our nurse practitioner.

Understanding cancer risks and options

Cancer risk factors

A Calculated Risk

People with a presumed hereditary risk for cancer have more options than ever when it comes to calculating the reality of that risk. The possibilities are both empowering and daunting. What tests are they eligible for? Will insurance cover the testing? And what implications do the results have?

December 03, 2013

Developing cancer survivor care plans

Coordinated Care

Develop a Care Plan to Meet Specific Survivor Needs

As discussed in the March 2012 ONS Connect Up Front article, “Life After Cancer,” the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer standards will require all of its accredited facilities to have survivorship care plans in place by 2015.

Five minute in service arrow

Coordinated Care

Get an Overview of a Successful Oncology Nurse Navigator Program

In their Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article, Horner et al. described the oncology nurse navigator program at their institution, addressing the specific roles of nurse navigators, required training, resources involved, and lessons learned.

Nurse navigators improve quality of patient care

Care coordination

Nurse Navigators

Although nurses have always helped patients through the bewildering process of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, formalizing these tasks into a specific role improves outcomes, saves lives, and decreases costs.

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