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Psychosocial Care in Oncology

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Emotional distress and mental health for patients and caregivers can greatly impact quality of life, treatment outcomes, and even the cost of care. While progress has been made with distress screening, finding effective and efficient practice solutions to address these needs can tax the care delivery system and contribute to staff stress and burnout.

Delivery of Psychosocial Care in Oncology Summit

To help its membership address access and delivery of psychosocial services, on March 8, 2023 ACCC hosted a multistakeholder summit in partnership with The American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) and The Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW) focused on psychosocial care delivery in oncology to:

  • Provide a forum for healthcare leaders, cancer care team members, and patient advocates to discuss the current state of mental health in oncology.
  • Build a collaborative dialogue amongst all interested stakeholders to identify action plans that address ongoing mental health issues for patients, caregivers, and cancer care team members.
  • Review and identify effective screening tools, training, resources, and policies to address psychological distress in patients, caregivers, and cancer care professionals.
  • Identify barriers to providing and accessing timely and appropriate care for patients and caregivers experiencing psychological distress.

Download Summit Pre-Reads

Psychosocial Summit Executive SummaryExecutive Summary

Invitees included individuals from across the multidisciplinary psychosocial cancer care team, including key leadership representatives of advocacy organizations, licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), licensed independent clinical social workers (LICSWs), clinical psychologists, board of oncology certified social workers (OSW-Cs), nurses, advanced practice providers (APPs), and one physician. After a day rich in discussion and interaction, the group came together to identify a series of action items that, if enacted, could create impactful change in the delivery of psychosocial care in oncology.

Download Executive Summary
 

Art Project Showcase: Talk About It

ACCC is proud to showcase this collaborative art project on mental health awareness and psychosocial care in oncology, sponsored by BeiGene, which debuted early this month at the 40th National Oncology Conference in Austin, Texas. Attendees had great fun coloring the mural and interacting with each other on such an important topic.


Cancer Buzz Podcast

More Psychosocial Care in Oncology Resources

From the ACCCBuzz Blog

Staying Connected in an Uncertain Time


March 20, 2020
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For most providers and other professionals in the healthcare industry, information about coronavirus (COVID-19) is coming fast and furious. As we strive to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus, a "new normal" of patient care delivery has for many of us materialized seemingly overnight. Our workdays are likely getting busier, and our home lives more complicated. It’s getting more and more difficult to find the time we’d like to comb through this information tsunami, much less connect with our colleagues.

As professionals in the oncology community, our needs are unique. Questions about how to care for chronically ill patients—who are perhaps immunosuppressed and require ongoing, scheduled treatment—raise a multitude of concerns in a world in which “social distancing” and self-quarantines are often a necessity. Of course, clinical concerns represent only one of the many facets of cancer care delivery. Patients with cancer may require the ongoing services of social workers, financial navigators, nutritionists, therapists, rehabilitation specialists, and others. Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 have confined many indoors, leaving providers and patients who depend on face-to-face contact to deliver and receive services feeling without direction.

To help provide some much-needed guidance, ACCC has developed a curated Coronavirus Response Page available to all that we are continually updating with information specific to the needs of the multidisciplinary cancer care team. Together, these resources can help you stay abreast of the most relevant information about COVID-19 and its effects on oncology care.

Of course, not all available resources are going to address your specific concerns in this unprecedented time. To get feedback from your colleagues in the oncology community, the ACCCExchange listserv is available to all ACCC members as a platform to ask questions and crowdsource practical solutions. Being able to tap into the knowledge and expertise of your colleagues is more important than ever during a time in which answers are neither easy nor clear. ACCCExchange allows you to connect with other cancer care professionals who are facing your same issues and may have suggestions you haven’t thought of before.

The ACCCExchange community includes clinical, supportive, and administrative staff, including nurses, social workers, program directors, financial navigators, therapists, administrators, billing specialists, and others. Some current threads on ACCCExchange include discussions about:

  • Alternatives to in-person tumor boards
  • Financial resources for quarantined patients
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) for infusion patients
  • Suggested reading on COVID-19 disease

Please spread the news among other ACCC members about this resource and direct them to our curated Coronavirus Response Page. As circumstances regarding COVID-19 evolve, we will share the best approaches and solutions that come out of the ACCCExchange community.

From Oncology Issues

Our Partners

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In partnership with American Psychosocial Oncology Society and Association of Oncology Social Work.

Our Supporters

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This project was made possible with support from BeiGene, USA.