Cancer and its treatments can affect a patient’s body in many ways, including sexual function. However, the historical evidence base is focused on cisgender men and their sexual health post-cancer treatment, with sexual health of women and LGBTQIA+ patients largely ignored. I, and many others, are working to change these disparities in research and practice.
Using the National Institutes of Health Symptom Science Model and Nursing Science Precision Health Model helps oncology nurses to recognize symptoms more promptly in patients with ovarian cancer and provide precision interventions that address racial disparities and foster equity in symptom-focused, patient-centered care, Mahoney and Pierce reported in the October 2022 issue of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) proteins are involved in normal cellular growth and are found on the surface of all breast cells. Approximately 20% of breast cancers are HER2 positive, meaning they have high levels of HER2 protein, and those cancers typically grow and metastasize more quickly than other types of breast cancer.
Bringing the first agent to market for the indication, on August 5, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu®) for patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-low breast cancer based on results from the DESTINY-Breast04 trial that demonstrated improved progression-free and overall survival. FDA also gave fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan its fourth approval on August 11, 2022, for unresectable or metastatic HER2-activating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The National Institute of Nursing Research, an National Institutes of Health agency, released its 2022–2026 strategic plan in summer 2022 to support its mission of leading “nursing research to solve pressing health challenges and inform practice and policy—optimizing health and advancing health equity into the future.”
Medication administration is a high-risk process that requires critical thinking, efficient decision-making, attention to detail, and a foundational knowledge of basic pharmacology. The process is not a single task but a cascade of events that include handling, ordering, preparing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring. Although nurses’ involvement varies at each phase, the risk for errors always exists, and consequences can have a lifelong impact on patients, families, and healthcare workers.
Veterans exposed to toxic substances in service will have more access to cancer care and other medical assistance thanks to the recently signed Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act. The PACT Act passed with bipartisan effort by Congress in August 2022 and later signed into law.
More than two-thirds of patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer respond to personalized immunotherapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and more than half of those treated experience measurable tumor shrinkage, according to study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Both a patient’s cancer and their subsequent treatment plan can affect their bodies, including pelvic health and sexual functioning. A pelvic health physical therapist can help combat—or even prevent—those issues as a member of the interprofessional cancer care team.
The National Institutes of Health launched the Climate Change and Health Initiative to expand knowledge and address key challenges regarding the environment’s impact on health and conditions like cancer in a collaborating all-hands-on-deck scientific effort, Richard Woychik, PhD, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a blog post in July 2022.