Cancer Care: Strengthening Communication and Symptom Management
Improving quality of life for cancer patients and their families reduces suffering, reduces preventable readmissions, and improves quality outcomes.
To achieve these goals, oncologists need the skills to have effective conversations with patients and families about their treatment goals and to safely manage pain and other symptoms. When patient needs are especially acute—complex pain and symptoms or conflicts among patient, family, and physician—oncologists often consult the specialty palliative care team for an added layer of support.
This toolkit contains training and clinical tools for oncology clinicians from all disciplines.
Download a course catalog with information about continuing education credits and ABIM MOC credits for all CAPC courses here.
What’s in the Toolkit
Communication Skills
Communicate about what matters to patients and families in order to create a care plan aligned with what is most important to them.
Learn techniques to help patients and their caregivers plan for the future, both during the early stages of a serious illness and as a disease progresses.
Learn best practices for building trust, eliciting patient values, and having patient-centered conversations about goals of care.
Learn to effectively lead meetings that help patients and caregivers become aligned around the patient’s goals.
Learn best practices for having patient-centered conversations about a serious illness diagnosis.
Learn how to effectively discuss prognosis with patients and their caregivers.
Pain and Symptom Management
Assess and safely manage pain, dyspnea, nausea and vomiting, constipation, anxiety, and depression.
In this on-demand case review, participants will gain an in-depth understanding of the historical context and status of medical cannabis use, focusing on its transition from traditional to therapeutic applications.
In this Master Clinician session, Drs. Danielle Noreika and Emily B. Rivet look at the pathophysiology and causes of nausea and vomiting in people living with cancer.
Conducting a comprehensive pain assessment to guide safe and effective treatment.
Integrating routine risk assessment for substance use disorder when considering or using opioid therapy.
Designing a safe and effective opioid trial for the patient with serious illness.
Ongoing evaluation of opioid benefits, risks, and side effects for the patient with serious illness.
Safe opioid prescribing for patients with serious illness, using the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) Guidelines for the Chronic Use of Opioid Analgesics.
Opioid pocket reference for providers including safe starting doses, equianalgesic chart, and standard dosing strengths.
Training curriculum and clinical tools for assessing and managing five common symptoms in patients living with serious illness.
Collaborating with Palliative Care Teams
Know how to describe palliative care to patients and families and when to refer.
Crosswalk of palliative care-relevant measures in the Enhancing Oncology Model that highlights how palliative care skills can mitigate risks for participating practices, as well as relevant CAPC resources.
Excerpt from presentation delivered to oncology practices describing how palliative care can support successful participation in the Oncology Care Model
An introduction to palliative care, how it is delivered, its impact on quality of life, and the growing population of patients who need it.
Checklist of triggers for referral to a specialty palliative care team.
Searchable directory of specialty palliative care providers, filtered by care setting.
Best Practice Models
Case studies and guidance for improving symptom management and achieving goal-concordant care.
Recommended clinician training to improve on OCM measures.
Use of screening to risk-stratify patients for palliative care based on need. CAPC and the Accountable Care Learning Collaborative.
Integration of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into the routine care of patients with metastatic cancer is associated with increased survival compared with usual care. Basch, et. al. JAMA 2017.
Patients with advanced cancer randomized to receive outpatient specialty palliative care lived longer and had better quality of life. Hoerger, et. al. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, September 2018.
Faculty
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Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, FAAHPM
Founder, Director Emerita and Strategic Medical Advisor, Center to Advance Palliative Care
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Allison Silvers, MBA
Chief Health Care Transformation Officer
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Brynn Bowman, MPA
Chief Executive Officer, Center to Advance Palliative Care
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Claire Ankuda, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
The Mount Sinai Hospital
