TheOncoPT Podcast

The one thing I wish I had when I was job searching & starting to work in #OncoPT was a community I could rely on for help. Feeling supported & heard is so important when starting your career - good thing for us, The Academy of Oncology PT's Student & New Professional Subcommittee is taking the reins on this, with tons of new initiatives & goals to help us! Steve Wechsler, Emma Schaburg O'Brien, & Shai Sewell stopped by TheOncoPT Podcast to share some of the great things the Subcommittee is working on for you & me!

Since the beginning of the COVID crisis, healthcare has dramatically shifted, with decreased in-person visits & increasing Telehealth usage dominating lymphedema treatment. It's safe to say that there's a lot of things that won't be returning to "pre-COVID, business as usual" anytime soon. But is that actually a bad thing?

Maureen McBeth, MPT, CLT-LANA; Linda Hodgkins, MS, OTR, CLT-LANA; Kimberly Miller, FNP-BC; & I were a part of a recent Tactile Medical webinar that discussed how COVID is forcing us to rethink how we are treating our patients with lymphedema & empowering them to take charge of their health & wellness. These ladies are POWERHOUSES of information, & you are going to love this episode!

Today is going to be a short episode because you don’t really need to be hearing my voice right now.  

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police.  His tragic death amongst many others has sparked protests across the country & now world.  Some of you might be wondering what this has to do with oncology physical therapy or why I’m discussing this.  

What’s been happening right now, for the past few years, & for the past hundreds of years directly affects our roles as physical therapy professionals & students & affects our effectiveness & efficacy of treating patients who are people of color.  It especially affects us in the oncology rehabilitation world.  As Kelly Reed of the Cancer Rehab PT instagram account so eloquently stated: “Cancer isn’t discriminating.  Our healthcare access, support, & education are.”    

As with other topics relating to oncology rehab, I’m working to bring experts on to discuss this further.  I’m just releasing this short episode today because the world needs more of the voices in the throes of it all.  You don’t need my attempts at bumbling through this on my own.  So stay tuned, & thanks for listening. 

With so much happening in the world around us, it's easy to get swept up in the chaos.  This negatively affects our ability to care for our patients & our own families.  Are you forgetting this crucial component of #OncoPT patient care?  

Ready or not, summer is here! The sun is heating up in the northern hemisphere, & heat, humidity, & sweat are upon us. So how do we try to minimize lymphedema exacerbations that are so common this time of year? Josh Levin, president of LympheDIVAs, & I discussed strategies to empower our patients to independently manage their lymphedema during the hot summer months.

Sometimes I look at research & wonder how in the world I'm supposed to implement it - well buckle up, because Dr. Bolette Rafn, Dr. Kristin Campbell, & their team are taking world-class research & making easy to use for both clinicians & their patients to measure their upper extremity circumference & monitor for developing lymphedema. They have created an amazing video resource that is helping women all over the world take charge of their self-management & surveillance - are you using it yet?

Continuing my 2 episode arc on Cash-Based Oncology PT, today's episode is my interview with Megan Bradley, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA. Megan is one of the founding members of Be Strong Therapy, a cash-based, multi-disciplinary clinic that is challenging the way we traditionally care for patients with cancer. She discusses the inspiration for Be Strong Therapy, how she & her partners got their practice up & running, & the challenges & successes they've encountered along the way.

3:12 Megan's inspiration for a different model of care for cancer patients

8:01 Logistics of opening & running Be Strong Therapy

17:18 Challenges & successes of opening Be Strong Therapy

26:06 Megan's advice for OncoPTs considering a cash-based practice

The POWER Lymphatic 2020 Conference was amazing for many reasons; most importantly, the people I met were incredible! Lisa Silvestri, MSPT, CLT-LANA is exactly one of those people. She is the owner of Oasis Physical Therapy & Wellness, a concierge, cash-based oncology & lymphedema private practice. In our interview, we dive into how she started her own practice, challenges & successes she's experienced along the way, & how she is serving patients as a whole person.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many "elective" produces are not happening right now. For some around the United States, that includes cancer surgeries such as lumpectomies & mastectomies. Whether or not this is happening in your community currently, oncology PT has an even more important role & opportunity to serve our patients who may have their treatment delayed or altered due to these circumstances. Specifically related to prehab, now is the time more than even to be getting patients in your door for prehab evaluations.

I've had some requests over the past few months about what my favorite tools, tips, & tricks are. Today I'm starting with my favorite Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) tools. Brief note here: in school, one of our professors was super anti-IASTM of any kind, so that largely colored how I began practicing in clinical rotations & performing STM for my patients. However, during my 4th (& oncology) rotation, I saw just how helpful these tools could actually be when working with patients. There's so many different kinds out there, so there's only one way to figure out which ones you like: explore! Try them out!

I've had exposure to various tools through different training courses, colleagues, & even my massage therapist, who is always talking to me about the continuing education she is doing - boom interdisciplinary collaboration & learning! I got to try a few techniques/tools out during clinical rotations, but most of my learning has been done observing others, talking to other practitioners, & lots of perusing through catalogs to see which fun tool to try next.