Approvals in Cancer Care Call for Multidisciplinary Cooperation

With new treatment options for patients with cancer, oncology nurses and APPs should be ready to educate patients and work with interdisciplinary teams to maintain care, said an expert.

Kayla Freeman, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, spoke with Oncology Nursing News about the future of oncology and how nurses and advanced practice providers (APPs) working within the space should expect to see those advancements reflected in their roles.

Freeman mentioned that approvals of new treatments are among the most pertinent changes that oncology nurses and APPs should look out for, including treatments like immunotherapies.

With those approvals, she noted, part of the role of nurses and providers is to find ways to incorporate interdisciplinary care to stay ahead of adverse events and make treatments more feasible for longer periods.

Freeman also said that educating patients on what to expect in terms of side effects is essential to providing the best care in light of new treatments in cancer. Freeman is a lead APP for breast oncology at Emory Winship Cancer Institute.

Transcript

I work in medical oncology, so I work in that space. And so when I think of the advancements that are affecting our patients most in our clinics, it’s being able to provide patients with another option, which is extremely important.

So I think, really, the biggest advancements that I can think of are just those approvals of more therapies, which is, I mean, it’s exciting.

Ultimately, it’s the treatments—immunotherapy, for instance. Education is going to be the biggest thing. So making sure patients know what to expect up front, being open to working with your—as a multidisciplinary team, not being afraid to get other people involved to kind of help with managing some of these side effects, if you need it, and make it easier for patients to stay on therapy.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.