August 2014

ASCO notes that by 2030, the number of new cancer cases in the United States will increase by 45%, and cancer will become the nation's leading cause of death, largely as a result of the aging of our population.

Although white women have a higher incidence of breast cancer than African American women (123.2/100,000 versus 118/100,000), African American women have a 40% higher mortality rate.

At the 2014 ASCO meeting, Oncology Nursing News sat down with Jimmie C. Holland, MD, the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the recipient of the 2014 Giants of Cancer Careâ„¢ Award for her pioneering contributions in the field of supportive care.

Many studies are currently assessing the role of patient navigation in achieving both quantitative and qualitative improvements in cancer care, and metrics have been developed to capture demonstrable evidence for this relatively new subspecialty of oncology nursing practice. Yet amidst all this fact-finding lives an individual patient with cancer.

Conversations happen across clinical settings every day. In conjunction with her family, a mother makes decisions about radiation, chemotherapy, and surgical treatments for breast cancer.