U.S. Sees Another Record-Breaking Decrease in Cancer Deaths, but Disparities Remain
Cancer-related mortality fell by 2.4% from 2017–2018, the largest-ever one-year drop in cancer deaths and a continuation of the downward trend the United States has seen since 1991, the American Cancer Society (ACS) reported in Cancer Facts and Figures, 2021.
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Patient Education Reduces Barriers and Increases Adherence Rates
Patient education is an essential aspect of cancer prevention. Nearly 1.9 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021, and modifiable risk factors are responsible for approximately 35% of cancer-related deaths. However, less than half of Americans understand the major risk factors that contribute to the development of cancer.
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to Melphalan Flufenamide for Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma
On February 26, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to melphalan flufenamide (Pepaxto®) in combination with dexamethasone for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who received at least four prior lines of therapy and whose disease is refractory to at least one proteasome inhibitor, one immunomodulatory agent, and one CD-38–directed monoclonal antibody.
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Invest in Hope for Nursing’s Future During Oncology Nursing Foundation’s 40th Anniversary
As we pass the one-year mark of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and reflect on all that has ensued since last March, human nature is to focus on our losses. By all accounts, 2020 has been a difficult period in our personal, professional, and civic lives. All of us grieve for our loved ones, patients, and the freedoms of life we have sacrificed.
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Nurses Help NIH Clinical Center Kick Off COVID-19 Vaccinations
Is anyone a better champion of the importance of vaccines to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic than a nurse? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) doesn’t think so. During a late-December videocast at the NIH Clinical Center, prominent healthcare leaders, including nurses, received the Moderna vaccine to demonstrate that it is safe and effective and to encourage others to get inoculated.
Self-Care Is Essential When Working Remotely
Did you ever imagine that you could do your job remotely? I did not, but that’s what I’m doing right now. Working remotely has become the new normal for certain professional roles, including some in nursing. An estimated 31% of new hires since March 2020 work from home. In February 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released social distancing guidelines and recommended the use of telehealth for patient visits. In March 2020, telehealth visits increased 154% compared to March 2019. Working at home has affected both healthcare workers and patients.
Biden Transition Team Appoints Health Experts to Lead Various Agencies
President Joe Biden made several campaign promises to improve or safeguard health care for all Americans with a focus on scientific and medical evidence. Shortly after the transfer of power, the Biden administration appointed and nominated public health experts to lead the various federal agencies dedicated to safety and biomedical research.
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Medicaid Expansion Coincides With Earlier Colon Cancer Diagnosis Rates
U.S. states that adopted the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion in January 2014 have earlier colon cancer diagnoses, enhanced access to care, and improved colon cancer surgical care than states that didn’t implement the expansion, researchers reported in Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Additionally, patients in the expansion states were more likely to have minimally invasive procedures and fewer urgent surgeries.
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COVID-19 Immunity Lasts Multiple Months, NIH Study Shows
Healthcare providers are one of the most at-risk populations for contracting the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, a 2020 study of healthcare workers found that acquired immunity from an initial COVID-19 infection offers protection against reinfection for at least six months or asymptomatic infection in the rare instances where someone subsequently tested positive within six months of acquiring immunity.
FDA Approves Cemiplimab-Rwlc for NSCLC With High PD-L1 Expression
On February 22, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo®) for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are not candidates for surgical resection or definitive chemoradiation and whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression (tumor proportion score ≥ 50%) as determined by an FDA-approved test, with no estimated aberrations to glomerular filtration rate, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or receptor tyrosine kinase (encoded by the ROS1 gene).