As improved screening, diagnosis, and treatments lead to cancer’s classification as a chronic disease, people with cancer are surviving longer than ever before. However, with lengthened survival comes long-term physical and emotional symptoms and other sequelae that require ongoing surveillance and management. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are essential to delivering quality survivorship care.

For sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, cancer incidence is on the rise. The increase in cancer rates can be attributed to several factors, including economic and social development and infectious disease rates. In that part of the world, many healthcare professionals don’t have access to up-to-date information regarding safe chemotherapy handling and administration.

I was selected to represent ONS as a panelist at the Cancer Innovation Coalition meeting held in Washington, DC in February 2018. The meeting, “Integrating Patient Perspective into Clinical Pathways: A Dialogue Between Stakeholders,” brought together patient advocates, healthcare professionals, and technology stakeholders to address and identify the importance of patient-centered care and involving patients in clinical pathways. The National Patient Advocate Foundation released an article outlining the topics covered in our discussion.

To save costs and reduce the number of meetings, the ONS Board combined the traditional January and March meetings into a late-February meeting. It served as my final in-person board meeting, a bittersweet moment filled with reflection on ONS’s past, present, and future. 

New guidelines and consensus recommendations for managing immune-related adverse events (irAEs) from checkpoint inhibitors are available from several key cancer and immunotherapy organizations: a collaboration between the American Society of Clinical Oncology and National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and a separate consensus recommendation from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. ONS contributed to the development of both sets of guidelines.

Presidential appointees come, and presidential appointees go. Recently, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) director resigned for financial conflicts of interest. The new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Alex Azar, sought to fill the important public health role as soon as possible. With opioids, the flu, vaccine shortages, and cancer prevention under the purview of the CDC, finding a new director was crucial to continuing the agency’s work.

Writing images from one’s memory and imagination can be a healing act. According to a recent study on expressive writing and patients with cancer, some individuals may benefit from participating in expressive writing as part of their supportive cancer treatment. The writing act can be a form of healing for patients struggling with their cancer diagnoses.  

Although it’s one of the less visible commissions, the President’s Cancer Panel monitors the activities of the National Cancer Program and reports on the burden of cancer. The panel reviews a number of topics and keeps current with demographic information and the latest cancer incidence research. After reviewing and recommending based on existing data, the panel releases a formal report to the president. In its most recent report, the panel found serious issues with barriers to access for cancer survivors, and it addressed the costs of drugs and the value therein.

Focusing on a patient’s quality of life is often a key component to their successful cancer journey. Treating their disease is crucial, but patients have to be recognized as individuals with unique and varying needs. Addressing their emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychosocial stressors can help provide holistic treatment that’s at the heart of successful oncology care.

An estimated 14.4 million Medicare recipients were prescribed some form of opioid treatment in 2016, paid for by their Medicare benefits. In an attempt to help curb the national opioid epidemic, officials from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Medicare would no longer pay for long-term, high-dose prescription pain medication. Unsurprisingly, the plan received flak from patient and provider advocacy groups alike.