From the Editor - TON November 2018

TON - November 2018, Vol 11, No 5
Beth Faiman, PhD, APRN-BC, AOCN
Founding Editor in Chief

The November issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) is packed with important news and insights for today’s oncology nurse. We start off our coverage by profiling The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, as we speak with Tonya Edwards, MS, RN, MSN, FNP-C, a nurse practitioner who specializes in palliative care and rehabilitation medicine. In an interview with TON, Ms Edwards discusses how an interventional program used by her institution’s supportive care center is helping clinicians deal with the issue of opioid abuse and identify patients who may be at highest risk for misuse (click here).

“Opioid misuse is an emergent issue, requiring more research to classify
the effectiveness of our interventions,” she noted.

We also feature key presentations and studies from recent national and international meetings, including the 2018 Best of ASCO meeting, the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress, the 2018 Cancer Survivorship Symposium, and the 2018 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer meeting.

At the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress, Ma­ría-Victoria Mateos, MD, PhD, Director, Myeloma Unit, University Hospital Salamanca-IBSAL, Spain, discussed results from the phase 3 ARROW clinical trial, which compared a once-weekly schedule of carfilzomib with a twice-weekly schedule of the drug in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

“In comparison with twice-weekly carfilzomib at the 27 mg/m2 schedule, once-weekly carfilzomib at 70 mg/m2 showed a favorable benefit-risk profile for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma,” Dr Mateos said (click here).

In a presentation at the 2018 Cancer Survivorship Symposium, Carolyn Messner, DSW, MSW, OSW-C, FAPOS, LCSW-R, Director of Education and Training, CancerCare, stressed the need for members of the multidisciplinary care team to work collaboratively to fine-tune the resources available to cancer survivors to ensure high-quality, innovative care.

“None of us can do this work alone, and we do need the whole multidisciplinary team. But the most important thing is that there are resources out there, and it’s the art of connecting people with those resources that’s so impor­tant,” she emphasized (click here).

At the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer meeting, Ann M. Berger, PhD, MSN, APRN, AOCNS, FAAN, Professor and Dorothy Hodges Olson Endowed Chair in Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, discussed the strong, evidence-based need for baseline screening, assessment, and treatment for sleep deficiency, fatigue, mood, and pain in patients with cancer (click here).

“We need to be sure that patients receive targeted and realistic interventions from baseline throughout their cancer journey,” she said.

Additional topics discussed in this issue of TON include the increased use of medical cannabis in cancer treatment and the growing need for providers’ knowledge of these medicines and their potential benefits and side effects (click here); the FDA’s 11-part action plan, which is designed to boost the biosimilar industry and lower drug costs through increased innovation and competition (click here); and the evolving role of immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with cancer (click here).

As always, we hope you will enjoy this issue of TON and look forward to receiving your feedback. You can contact us via e-mail at info@TheOncologyNurse.com

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