The JADPRO Podcast

As more and more clinical trials begin analyzing the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus and the efficacy and safety of potential treatment options, many of us are left wondering about how this shift in focus will affect ongoing and future clinical trials for other diseases, especially cancer. Nataya Francis, ARNP, nurse practitioner in the Clinical Research Unit at Moffitt Cancer Center, is seeing the impact on the oncology clinical trials management process firsthand.

As the COVID-19 pandemic brings nonessential travel to a near standstill, health-care systems are innovating ways to use technology to continue to provide high-quality care. We talk to Kathy Deanda, Senior Director of Virtual Health for the UCHealth System and Senior Director of Neurosciences for University of Colorado Hospital, and Keri Halsema, a nurse practitioner at the Blood Disorder Center for the University of Colorado about their rapid expansion of telehealth services at UCHealth.

Gabrielle Zecha, PA-C, MHA, Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, talks about her team's preparations for COVID-19.

The COVID-19 outbreak has necessitated cancer centers to rapidly develop screening protocols and explore telemedicine strategies to prevent infections. Advanced practitioners have been on the front lines of patient care and education, and we talk with two of them to see what their processes are and what other health-care providers can learn from their experiences.

Robert Hall, MSN, is an oncology/hematology nurse practitioner with a focus on myeloid malignancies and clinical research at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Sandra Kurtin, PhD, ANP-C, AOCN®, is an oncology/hematology nurse practitioner at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Arizona.

The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) has compiled resources on COVID-19.

Victoria Reiser, RN, BSN, BMTCN, OCN, author of the JADPRO article "Beyond CAR T-Cell Therapy: Continued Monitoring and Management of Complications" speaks with co-host Wendy Vogel, MSN, FNP, AOCNP, on caring for patients who have received CAR T-cell therapy.

2:07 Introductions
3:42 If you had a billboard about your article, what would the headline be?
4:25 Why is this topic important for APs?
5:27 How would you explain CAR T-cell therapy to family members?
6:35 Infusion process
7:52 Monitoring for cytokine release syndrome
8:26 Immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)
11:05 Inpatient vs. outpatient
11:35 Caregiver involvement
14:02 Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH)
15:48 Recovery period
16:28 Long-term toxicities
17:34 Assessing response
18:18 Prophylaxis after therapy
19:30 COVID-19 advice for patients
20:52 Geriatric patients
22:15 Myths
23:42 What's the hardest thing about CAR T-cell therapy?

What’s the quickest way to ruin a dinner party? Talking about death might be one, but Debra Jarvis, former chaplain with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, TEDMED speaker, podcaster, author, and writer-in-residence at University Congregational United Church of Christ doesn’t shy from talking about taboo topics. After her keynote at JADPRO Live, Debra sat down with freelance medical writer and editor, Kate MacDougall, on her journey on the Camino de Santiago, similarities she recognized between her hike and the practice of oncology, and fine-tuning attitudes and perspectives on death.

In early 2020, the Trump administration rolled out a Medicaid block grant program, where states apply to received capped federal funding and have new flexibility to dictate coverage and benefits. Tennessee's application is a telling example of how health benefits for the most vulnerable populations have the potential to change drastically.

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References:

Kaiser Family Foundation estimates based on 2017 National Health Expenditure Accounts data from CMS, Office of the Actuary; The Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicaid in the United States Fact Sheet, October 2019. http://files.kff.org/attachment/fact-sheet-medicaid-state-US.

The Facts on Medicare Spending and Financing
https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/the-facts-on-medicare-spending-and-financing/

Trump Administration Announces Transformative Medicaid Healthy Adult Opportunity
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/trump-administration-announces-transformative-medicaid-healthy-adult-opportunity

Trump Administration Clears The Way For Medicaid Block Grants
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/30/800841612/trump-administration-offers-states-a-way-to-block-grant-medicaid

In this episode, we're sharing the acceptance speech of the second recipient of the annual Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology, Jody Pelusi, PhD, FNP, AOCNP®, of HonorHealth Research Institute, Scottsdale, Arizona. If you have an advanced practitioner in your life who’s mentored you and inspired you, you can nominate that person for the 2020 award at marypazduraward.com. The winner will receive $5,000, a trip to the 2020 conference in Minneapolis, and recognition at the conference and in the journal.

Are you curious about what goes on in the FDA? Natasha Kormanik, MSN, RN, OCN, Senior Regulatory Health Project Manager at the FDA describes her day-to-day job and debunks myths about the expanded access program. Reporting by A. Kate MacDougall, editor and writer.