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ASCO University
An educational resource for oncologists.
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Cancer-related Professional Information
A recent article in Community Oncology lists several web sites that can help one keep up with the explosive growth in cancer-related professional information, including CME, slide sets, professional meeting reports, and video presentations.
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OncologyTube  

 

Research to Practice  

 

Imedex E-Learning Center  

 

Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Educati 

 

PrIME Oncology 

 

The Doctor's Channel  

 

Cancer.Net (from the ASCO family of web sites)

 

OncologySTAT 

 



Don't have a palliative care team but need help with symptom management? 
Try the PAL-MED CONNECT Resource Hotline and talk directly to a specialist for free, 24 hours a day. The experts at The Institute for Palliative Medicine are available to provide resources and treatment options. This is a grant funded service and is free for healthcare providers to call when pain and symptom management issues arise. Call 1-877-725-6334.
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Online Resources for Patients

New Resources for Advanced Care Planning

Advanced Cancer Care Planning. Downloadable booklet from ASCO.

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Closure: Changing Expectations for End-of-Life.  Guidance for talking with family and professionals about end-of-life wishes.

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Survivorship: During and After Treatment. 
The American Cancer Society has reorganized its online resources for survivors.
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Continuing Education
  
Yale
 
 

Schwartz Rounds 

Second Thursday of the month 12:00 PM  

Lunch is provided.  Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven in the Park St. Auditorium (CME)

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Yale Bioethics Center End of Life Issues Study Group

5:30 PM - 7:00 PM  

Theme for 2010-2011:  "Ethical Aspects of the Advances in Modern Medicine." (CME) Audio and video of this year's presentations are available on the Center's website.

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April 12 

Substituted Interests and Best Judgments.  Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD

 

May 5  

Yale's West Campus 

Nutrition and Cancer Survivorship:  Separating the (Whole) Wheat from the Chaff    

5th Annual Yale Survivorship Symposium   

Keynote Speaker:  Suzanne Dixon.  Continuing Education credits for physicians, nurses, registered dieticians, and social workers.  

 

 

 

Elsewhere

 

June 17 - 19

Cancer Survivorship and Sexual Health Symposium.  Washington, DC.

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June 20 - 24

Principles and Practice of Pain Medicine. Cambridge, MA.

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Online

Nurse Learning Network

Palliative care CNE courses, some of them written by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA).

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March 2011          Volume 5 · No 3

 

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

 

I recently ran across this Michael Pollan quote on two different web sites, Plow to Plate and a Suzanne Dixon blog on the Caring4Cancer site.  Suzanne is the Keynote Speaker at the Yale Nutrition and Cancer Survivorship Conference on May 5. 

Plow to Plate is an innovate program in Connecticut "dedicated to the notion that individual and community well-being depends upon a sustainable local and regional food system."  Among other programs, New Milford Hospital, a founding partner, has revamped its hospital nutrition program around healthy, local, sustainable agriculture.

Dixon writes that eating "real food," as opposed to the highly processed "edible items" that dominate our modern diets is the key to individual and public health.  Parenthetically, a recent New York Times blog upbraided McDonald's for taking a real food-oatmeal-and adding "11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen."

In her next blog, "Not too much," Dixon explains the concern about overweight Americans (noting that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese!) and cancer risk.  The combination of increased portion sizes and calorie dense foods led to weight increase.  Being overweight is a risk factor for esophageal, pancreatic, gallbladder, colorectal, endometrial, kidney, and postmenopausal breast cancers.

Dixon never addressed the third part of the Pollan quote, but fortunately, Maura Harrigan, RD, CSO, the nutrition expert for the Connecticut Challenge Survivorship Clinic at Yale Cancer Center addresses this issue with every survivor who visits the clinic.  Her recommendations include: 
  • At least ¾ of the dinner plate should be covered with plant foods
  • A variety of fruits and vegetables of differing colors ("a rainbow of colors") combined with whole grains provides important phytonutrients and fiber from real food
  • Consider a variety of beans as a protein source
  • Think of meat as a condiment, not the main component of the meal
  • Limit red meats and eat processed meats rarely, if at all

Download Maura's one-page handout that is included in the Survivorship Care Plan for each of our participants.
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In the News

Yale Cancer Center's Annual Survivorship Day Announced
Cancer Survivor's Day is a unique program for cancer survivors and their families to celebrate and honor cancer survivors throughout the region. This year, Ethan Zohn, winner of Survivor: Africa and a cancer survivor, will be the keynote speaker. Ethan has been described as "the ultimate SURVIVOR, cancer crusher, inspired philanthropist, mad inventor, soccer enthusiast, and all around big dreamer."

Please join us for this free event:
May 25, 2011
5:00-7:30 PM
Yale's West Campus
141 Frontage Road, Orange, CT


March is...
National Nutrition Month
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Poll Shows Americans Can Handle End-of-Life Chat
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Hospital Palliative Care Certificate Program Approved

The Joint Commission has approved a hospital palliative care certificate program, similar to those already in existence for stroke units and heart failure. The program is expected to launch September 1, 2011.


Journal Watch


End-of-Life Care

Angelo M, et al.  An Approach to Diabetes Mellitus in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  J Pall Med. 2011;14(1):83-87.  

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Enguidanos S, et al.  Use of Role Model Stories to Overcome Barriers to Hospice among African Americans.  J Pall Med.  2011;14(2).  

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Peppercorn JM, et al.  American Society of Clinical Oncology Statement: Toward Individualized Care for Patients With Advanced Cancer.  J Clin Oncol. 2011, Jan 24.  

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Schattner A.  Doing, When There is Nothing to be Done.  CMAJ.  2011;183(2):288-229.  

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Curtis JR, et al.  What Is the "Right" Intensity of Care at the End of Life and How Do We Get There?  Ann Int Med.  2011;154(4):283-284.  

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Palliative and Supportive Care

Berry DL, et al.  Enhancing Patient-Provider Communication With the Electronic Self-Report Assessment for Cancer: A Randomized Trial.  J Clin Oncol. 2011 Jan 31.  

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Blum D, et al. Cancer Cachexia: A Systematic Literature Review of Items and Domains Associated with Involuntary Weight Loss in Cancer.  Crit Rev Oncol Hemato.  2011 Jan 8.  

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Mercadante S.  The Use of Rapid Onset Opioids for Breakthrough Cancer Pain: The Challenge of its Dosing.  Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2011 Jan 5.  

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Other articles of interest

A supplement to Annals of Oncology is devoted to "Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer: Risks and Challenges."  Ann Oncol.  2011;22(Supp1).  

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