Race, sex, education level, and healthcare coverage status all contribute to cancer screening disparities among sexual and gender minority populations, researchers reported in the March 2023 issue of the Oncology Nursing Forum.
As the founder of the LGBTQ+ Coordination of Care Consult Service and co-chair for the LGBTQI+ Clinical Advisory Committee (CAC) at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York, NY, Kelly Haviland, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, an advanced practice provider manager of professional development, is combatting the systemic disparities that LGBTQI+ patients with cancer face in accessing care.
Our minds often make connections between the information we consume from various sources. I recently did that with articles, news programs, and social media. First, I read a viewpoint in the American Nurse Journal titled “Do I Still Belong?” Rushton outlined the complex concept of belonging in addressing the current state of nursing and nurses leaving their jobs and the profession. She described a multidimensional concept of belonging to ourselves, our patients, our profession, and the role or position we hold.
Successfully addressing sensitive topics, such as homophobia and LGBTQ+ biases, is best achieved in small, interactive groups, clinical nurse scientists said in a quality improvement project report published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.
On May 31, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved olaparib (Lynparza®) plus abiraterone and prednisone or prednisolone for adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious BRCA variant, metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test.
Transgender individuals often experience poor health outcomes, particularly when it comes to cancer. Compared with cisgender individuals, transgender individuals may be diagnosed with cancer at later stages, be less likely to receive treatment, and have worse survival for many cancer types. The disparities extend to survivorship, where transgender people report significant unmet needs, including lack of coordination between gender-affirming care and cancer care, oncology clinician understanding of transgender patient care needs, and transgender-specific resources.
Because of insufficient evidence, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s (USPSTF’s) 2023 skin cancer recommendations advise that “the balance of benefits and harms for visual skin examination by a clinician to screen for skin cancer in asymptomatic adolescents and adults cannot be determined.” For breast cancer, the USPSTF’s 2023 recommendation stated that all women should get screened every other year, starting at age 40.
Implementing intermittent bladder irrigation guidelines reduces catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates by more than 80%, ONS member Christine Wallace, MSN, APRN-CNS, said during a podium presentation at the 48th Annual ONS Congress® in April 2023.
Pittsburgh, PA, May 30, 2023—Margaret Rosenzweig, PhD, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, FAAN, will begin her appointment as the Oncology Nursing Society’s scholar-in-residence June 1, 2023.
Racial and ethnic health disparities cost the U.S. economy $451 billion in 2018, a 41% increase from the 2014 estimate of $320 billion, according to results from a study funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers also reported that the total burden of education-related health disparities for people with less than a college degree reached $978 billion in 2018.