Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Comprehensive Call Center Supporting Safe, Efficient Operations During A Pandemic, Janice P. Finder, Ashlyn Proske, Judy Overton, Elizabeth Comcowich Garcia, Michael Frumovitz

Patient Experience Journal

Research has shown that a comprehensive call center can support a safe, efficient, and quality experience for patients and their families. When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the stakes are already high. Add a pandemic to an immunocompromised patient population and fear escalates. In order to accommodate the ever-changing information and ease patients’ anxieties surrounding their cancer diagnoses, it is necessary that an institution be available 24/7 to inform, help navigate systems, and manage symptoms because the emergency room, and many times the clinics, have too many inherent risks.

MD Anderson expanded the hours of operation for askMDAnderson, a …

Formative Research To Design A Culturally-Appropriate Cancer Clinical Trial Education Program To Increase Participation Of African American And Latino Communities, Jennifer Cunningham-Erves, Claudia Barajas, Tilicia Mayo-Gamble, Caree R. Mcafee, Pamela Hull, Maureen Sanderson, Juan Canedo, Katina Beard, Consuelo H. Wilkins

Department of Health Policy and Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: Addressing knowledge deficiencies about cancer clinical trials and biospecimen donation can potentially improve participation among racial and ethnic minorities. This paper describes the formative research process used to design a culturally-appropriate cancer clinical trials education program for African American and Latino communities. We characterized community member feedback and its integration into the program.

Methods: We incorporated three engagement approaches into the formative research process to iteratively develop the program: including community-based organization (CBO) leaders as research team members, conducting focus groups and cognitive interviews with community members as reviewers/consultants, and interacting with two community advisory groups. An …

Paying It Forward: A Cancer Survivor And His Wife Share Their Reflections And Recommendations As A Patient And Caregiver, Justin Sandler

Patient Experience Journal

I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago and had a relatively normal childhood but not necessarily an easy one. Shortly after graduating from Indiana University, I moved out west and have been working in the entertainment industry ever since. My life has been a beautiful and interesting adventure with twists and turns I could have never predicted.

In 2016 it seemed like everything was really coming together. I had been happily married to my wife and business partner Mary Lou Sandler since 2011, and we had been growing our photography/film production studio for as many years. I was …

Treatments For Cancer Given Orally: Patients' Perceptions Of Distress Due To Financial Toxicity, Ellen Carr

Dissertations

Purpose/Aims: For adult participants who have received or are receiving treatment for hematologic and solid tumor malignancies given orally, this study describes the relationship between participants’ experience of financial toxicity (FT), the participants’ perception of distress associated with FT, and participants’ self-identified adherence to prescribed treatments in the context of FT.

Background: FT has emerged as an additional source of distress for cancer patients. The costs of treatments given orally can be prohibitively expensive for patients. Therefore, these patients may experience considerable distress and may not adhere to treatments as prescribed.

Method: Descriptive cross-sectional correlational design study of a sample …