Anjali Sibley, Director, Stanford Emeryville Cancer Center, shared on LinkedIn:
”Strategic cancer navigation.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been thinking deeply about a growing impediment in oncology care. It’s getting bigger and is happening for several reasons. Some include increasingly complex, targeted treatments (with new, interesting, side effects), complex treatment schedules requiring more medical visits, and that patients are living longer (a great thing!) and experiencing more than one cancer at a time.
The issue is how we help a patient strategically navigate the cancer journey?
Successfully do so. Not only medical management/treatment but all the things that come with it.
We must have excellent treatment, but strategic planning is needed for the entire experience to be as good as it can be. Many patient struggle with emotional, logistical, and practical challenges that come with the diagnosis, starting at
‘You have cancer.’
I call this framework strategic cancer navigation. It centers around three major principles, which follow:
- Organization of your life should start before treatment begins.
- Become an active, informed partner with your medical team.
- Focus on the entire person, not only the cancer itself. Holistic management helps patients!
Because so much is needed of a cancer patient, these areas must be properly handled at the beginning of the journey. I have realized these things during my years of oncology patient care and seeing where the largest unmet needs lie.
I’ll be sharing more details about the framework, the evidence behind it, and practical ways it can help patients, families, and healthcare teams over the coming weeks and months.
Join me for the conversation. Give me your thoughts!”
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