Craig Blinderman, MD, MA, Attending Physician in Medicine & Anesthesiology New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Palliative Care (Medicine & Anesthesiology), Columbia University, discusses starting palliative care early in patients with metastatic disease.
Craig Blinderman, MD, MA, Attending Physician in Medicine & Anesthesiology New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Palliative Care (Medicine & Anesthesiology), Columbia University, discusses starting palliative care early in patients with metastatic disease.
In 2010, a study compared early palliative care in patients with advanced lung cancer at the time of diagnosis with standard therapy. Patients who received palliative care early on saw improved quality of life and a reduced chance of depression. An ASCO provision statement says that oncologists should consider palliative care at the moment of diagnosis for patients with metastatic disease.
The problem, Blinderman says, is that there is a shortage in people trained in palliative care. To solve this problem, the oncology community should work to increase the level of knowledge of palliative care for all clinicians.​
Oncology Nurses Provide Patients an Avenue to Supportive Care
November 12th 2019Palliative care is often associated with a patient entering end of life treatment and giving up on their treatment, but that isn't the reality of what id can do for patients. And oncology nurses can help guide patients to the right supportive care for them.
Hyman B. Muss Discusses the Importance of Nurses in Treating Pregnant Women With Breast Cancer
March 23rd 2016Hyman B. Muss, MD, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, discusses the vital roles that nurses play when it comes to treating pregnant women with breast cancer.
Kimberly J. Van Zee on Nomograms Helping in DCIS Treatment Decision-Making
March 18th 2016Kimberly J. Van Zee, MS, MD, FACS, attending surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the institution's newly-developed nomogram that can help women make treatment decisions about ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).