Delivering Better Care To Cancer Patients
Above: Patricia Santos, MD, Stephanie V. Leung, MD, and Anne E. Sayers, MD supported MCCAN in the development of a special education series for hospitalists.
When a patient with cancer is admitted to the hospital — whether for a complication from their disease or an unrelated condition — they often require specialists to manage their complex care. Today, hospitalists are increasingly encountering these patients in the inpatient setting and facing unique challenges: staying current with rapidly evolving cancer therapies, understanding clinical trials in which patients may be participating and coordinating when resources and immediate access to specialists may be limited, particularly in smaller hospitals.
For hospitalists at UK St. Claire in Morehead, KY, this challenge hit close to home. As dedicated physicians committed to delivering excellent patient care, the hospitalists recognized that they were caring for a growing number of cancer patients. Eager to expand their knowledge, they turned to the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network (MCCAN) for assistance.
“Although we are focused on the oncology program and cancer care team, the MCCAN membership is for the entire facility,” said Cheri Tolle, MAEd, CHES, administrative director of MCCAN. “Patients with cancer may also have congestive heart failure or a pulmonary issue and be receiving active treatment for their cancer. On the floor as an inpatient, they don’t necessarily have their cancer team taking care of them. The hospitalist is often overseeing their care and communicating back to the specialist.”
To help address this need, the MCCAN education team reached out to Patricia Santos, MD, hospitalist, associate professor and associate chief of quality and safety at UK. After completing a needs assessment of hospitalists with feedback from UK St. Claire, she worked with MCCAN to develop a three-module webinar series.
The series covered oncologic emergencies (led by hospitalist Anne Sayers, MD), targeted therapies and immunotherapy complications (taught by oncologist Ruta Arays, MD) and managing cancer pain in the setting of opioid use disorder (with palliative care specialist Katrina Nickles, MD).
“Kentucky, unfortunately, has a very high burden of cancer,” Santos said. “When a patient with cancer is hospitalized, it is often due to a complication from the cancer itself, a side effect of treatment or worsening symptoms like pain. It’s very important for us to work with our community partners because by empowering our hospitalists to better care for these patients, patients can often stay close to home.”
In a post-course evaluation, the UK St. Claire hospitalists said the knowledge gained would change their practice, Santos said. The modules are available to all via the MCCAN Resource Portal.
The partnership among MCCAN, UK Division of Hospital Medicine, and UK St. Claire hospitalists exemplifies the collaborative spirit at the heart of MCCAN’s mission. Through practical, evidence-based education, the program has become a valuable resource for MCCAN affiliates facing similar challenges, serving as a catalyst to help improve patient care across Kentucky.
