Hot Topics in Chemotherapy Management

Healio spoke with expert oncologists about managing patients on chemotherapy.

In the first video in this series, Lidia Schapira, MD, FASCO, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and director of cancer survivorship at the Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Institute, discussed:

• Being mindful and respectful, recognizing the fear patients may feel when receiving chemotherapy, and establishing a “human to human” connection;
• The impact of COVID on the management of patients;
• Managing patient expectations, while empowering them;
• Collaborative management between the oncology team and the patient’s primary provider; and
• Areas of unmet needs, including “psychosocial support”.

In the second video in this series, Merry Jennifer Markham, MD, FACP, FASCO, acting chief of the division of hematology and oncology and clinical professor at the University of Florida and associate director for medical affairs and chief medical officer for cancer services at the University of Florida Health Cancer, discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care and management of patients receiving chemotherapy, including common concerns surrounding treatments.

“We’ve learned a lot as we’ve been dealing with this pandemic since early 2020, and I think it has boiled down to the fact that we do need to keep treating our patients,” she said.

 

 

In the third video in this series, Markham discussed the differences in treating adults compared with children. She provided her perspective as an oncologist treating adult patients.

“One of the reasons I wanted to become an adult oncologist as opposed to a pediatric oncologist is, I really wanted to be able to have a conversation with a patient who knows his or her own body well and is able to communicate problems to me in a way I understand,” Markham said.

 

 

Listening to and working with patients when managing chemotherapy treatment is important, especially when trying to determine what is a side effect of treatment and what is a symptom of the cancer, according to Markham. She also noted that when treating adult patients, they will be the primary source for information about their body or experience, whereas managing pediatric patients requires more than one primary source, the patients and their parents.