Patient Advocacy/Empowerment
With National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week (June 15-21, 2023) on the horizon, it is paramount to acknowledge the pivotal role that nurse navigators play in educating and empowering patients and their loved ones—to include fostering candid and transparent conversations about family health history, knowing our bodies, risk reduction, and proactive cancer screenings. As a breast cancer survivor and founder of the Tigerlily Foundation, I am a testament to the profound, lifesaving impact of these conversations. My mother was a nurse, and I often say that she gave me life and saved my life. Here’s how.
Claire Saxton, Maria B. Gonzalo, MS, Jenny Karubian, MA, Helen M. Nichols, PhD, Sanjana Quasem, MPH, Danelle Johnston, MSN, RN, HON-ONN, OCN
As precision medicine testing and treatment options evolve, the complexity of what patients and caregivers need to understand to be active members of their healthcare team has increased dramatically.
A cancer diagnosis may carry with it a variety of legal issues, including insurance coverage, government benefits, and consumer rights.
You are in a prime position to empower patients to have meaningful communication and involvement in their own care. Here’s how.
Jessica Morris, Bruce Hellman, Kelli Duprey, Jacob Ellen, Lakshmi Nayak, Fabio Iwamoto, Florien Boele
Self-reports from patients done monthly or every few months in the doctor’s office have several limitations, including poor recall, underreporting or overreporting of events, among other biases.
The unprecedented time of COVID-19 made oncology nurse navigators (ONNs) ever more valuable to our patients.
Since January 2017, the Sarah Cannon Breast Cancer support group has held monthly meetings for breast cancer patients newly diagnosed, on their treatment journey, and for patients in survivorship.