I Am A Nurse

In this article, the authors discuss revisions to the Optimal Care Coordination Model following beta testing to develop the final version, rationale for significant revisions, and nationwide dissemination of the Model.

Patients with cancer who face transportation barriers often find themselves at a crossroads: They must either continue to piece together various forms of assistance to try to complete a treatment regimen and protocol or throw in the towel altogether. Instead of reacting to patients’ needs after they fall out of compliance with their specified treatment, we pledged to proactively offer and find transportation assistance that meets all patient needs.

With disparate breast cancer outcomes, lack of messages of hope, and limited available support for Black women, Rev. Tammie and her late sister were inspired to co-found Carrie’s TOUCH in 2006.

One of the ways in which community oncology is helping to close gaps in cancer research is through participation in the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program clinical trials. The Lahey Health Cancer Institute, a part of the Beth Israel Lahey Health System, continues to expand access to clinical trials and, in particular, the NCI National Clinical Trials Network into the community by partnering with affiliated community hospitals.

Dr. Vijay Rao and Dr. Eric Stephen Rubenstein returned from a Global Cardio-Oncology Society meeting g with the realization that they could do much more to protect patients with cancer from potential cardiac toxicity of chemotherapy. The two shared one goal: to prevent the cancer survivor of today from becoming the heart failure patient of tomorrow.

Rather than fielding its annual Trending Now in Cancer Care survey while cancer programs were experiencing unprecedented challenges due to the extended public health emergency, ACCC chose to facilitate conversations with its members to capture the lived experiences of the most pertinent issues impacting oncology practice and care delivery.

Oncology Issues sat down with Dr. Schilsky to look back on his career and look forward to future research breakthroughs in this era of COVID-19 and beyond.

It is well documented, even beyond Tennessee Oncology's OCM experience, that patients with cancer generally have some type of hospital-related costs during their disease treatment. Understanding the impact of these real-time alerts and data, Tennessee Oncology formed a Care Transformation Team with the focus of addressing admissions in real time, as well as follow-up care for discharges.

As the senior director of cancer services at Spectrum Health Lakeland in St. Joseph, Mich., I led a breakout session at the 37th [Virtual] ACCC National Oncology Conference in September 2020, where I shared tips for effective and positive leadership in oncology. The first step to becoming an effective leader is to understand the type of leader you are—even if you hold an informal leadership position.

Over the last several months, ACCC members have experienced a rising trend of payer-mandated white and brown bagging. ACCC will continue to monitor and update members about issues related to white and brown bagging.

In 2016, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) initiated a three-year multiphase project to develop an Optimal Care Coordination Model (OCCM) for Medicaid patients with lung cancer that would help assess and strengthen care delivery systems by facilitating and expanding access to multidisciplinary coordinated care.

This next year, as we emerge out of COVID-19’s shadow and into a landscape that has been forever altered by the worldwide pandemic, it is important that we reflect on what we witnessed this past year—not only the suffering but the “wins.”

Oncologists may not be on the frontline taking care of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units or emergency departments, but we do have the chance to advocate for vaccination to win the race against this deadly virus.

When SwedishAmerican Regional Cancer Center found itself unable to quantify performance in inpatient oncology, it saw an opportunity to break down barriers in communication and education between the inpatient and outpatient setting.

I have worked with oncology patients in some capacity for 25 years, but hearing “posttraumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) and “cancer” in the same sentence is a relatively new concept for most.

The ongoing balancing act of staffing and retention is one of the most challenging issues in healthcare today. In specialty areas such as oncology, staffing presents an even more difficult challenge. Finding qualified individuals with the right experience to fill open positions can be a taxing, time-consuming task.

Find out how Christiana Care Helen F. Graham Cancer Center implemented a novel approach to providing survivorship services, embedding a full-time survivorship nurse navigator within the Radiation Oncology Department, helping to empower patients and improve coordination with primary care providers.

Research has demonstrated the importance of symptom management and the optimization of the health and comfort of patients undergoing cancer therapy, resulting in improved function and quality of life (QOL).

Storage, handling, and disposal of oral agents; possible drug-drug and drug-food interactions; dosing requirements, a plan for missed doses, a refill process; and more on what your patients need to know about oral agents.

The nurse practitioner (NP) and clinical nurse specialist (CNS) are the advanced practice nurses (APNs) primarily working in the field of oncology.

While oncology programs and practices must take into account numerous considerations when ramping up their oral chemotherapy services, this article focuses on one unique and very important role to facilitate this transition: the oral oncology nurse navigator.

In 2010, the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at Johnston-Willis Hospital started to explore how to best serve the emotional and spiritual needs of its oncology nursing staff.

Productivity and staffing in an ambulatory oncology infusion center can be challenging. A shortage of skilled applicants to fill staffing needs adds further challenges. Such was the case at The Valley Hospital in northeast New Jersey.