From the Director of Telehealth

by Tim Poe

Happy November! I am pleased to report that our Telehealth team members have been busy honing their technical skills to better serve you. You may have noticed that our site atwww.unccn.org has received a facelift. This is a part of the UNC School of Medicine’s transition to WordPress, which will soon be in place across the entire School of Medicine. A call out to Jon Powell and the School of Medicine IT group for making all the necessary changes to successfully migrate our site to the new platform. Thanks to our entire team (Mary King, Veneranda Obure, and Jon Powell)  for attending a recent WordPress Training to better support the new site.

On October 25^th our team was fortunate to attend the annual CTC Retreat, here at UNC. This great event brings together IT professionals from across our campus. We enjoyed networking with our IT friends, sharing the stage with Suzanne Cadwell for a presentation on Zoom, and “chumming” it up with Gill the Phish (see photo).

Veneranda recently returned from Madison, Wisconsin, where she attended MSX18, the annual Mediasite conference. Mediasite is the product that allows us to record and share high quality videos of our lectures. I know that we will all benefit from Vene’s attendance at a variety of streaming and recording presentations during the conference.

Jon also recently went out-of-state to Glendale, Arizona where he shared a presentation about the UNC Cancer Network at the Telehealth/Telemedicine Service Provider Summit. He also did quite a bit of networking with other telehealth providers, and he came back to NC with plenty to share with our team.

Earlier this summer, Mary and Jon attended a two-day conference on social media marketing. They will continue to improve our presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and beyond!

We’ll continue to do our very best to keep improving our IT skills to bring you the very best telehealth events possible. Please be certain to look over our exciting lecture lineup for the remainder of 2018.

All the best,
Tim

Interview with Wendell G. Yarbrough, MD, MMHC

by Mary E. King

In September of 2018, Wendell G. Yarbrough returned to UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine as the Thomas J. Dark Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Yarbrough about his return to UNC and his work.

Upcoming Events

by Jon Powell, PhD

Upcoming Events

Caring for Adolescents and Young Adults Living with Cancer: Meeting their Unique Medical and Psychosocial Needs RN and Allied Health Lecture

11/14/18 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Please join the UNC Cancer Network for an online telehealth lecture with Lauren Lux, LCSW. Adolescents and Young Adult living with cancer have unique medical and psychosocial needs. The recognition of these needs has created a new field of study in practice in the oncology world. As such many institutions are developing multidisciplinary teams to address AYA needs. However, you don’t need a huge budget or a new program to make an impact with this age group. We will establish the age specific needs of this group and discuss some simple changes to make in your day to day practice that will help you meet your AYA patients’ needs. — RN and Allied Health lectures offer FREE CNE and ASRT continuing education credit (upon approval) for eligible participants.

Caring for the Patient with Melanoma or Other Skin Cancers NC Community College Lecture

Please join the UNC Cancer Network for an online telehealth lecture with Frances Collichio, MD and Nancy Thomas, MD, PhD. This lecture will have two parts. The first part will focus on prevention and recognition of melanoma and it will be given by Dr Thomas. The second part will introduce the student to immuno-oncology and show how the concepts of that field apply to the medications that are used in advanced disease. We will do this through case presentations. — NC Community College Oncology lectures offer FREE Certificates of Participation (upon approval) for eligible participants.

Understanding and Treating Anxiety & Depression in Patients and Families with Cancer Medical and Surgical Oncology Lecture

11/28/18 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Please join the UNC Cancer Network for an online telehealth lecture with Eliza Park, MD. Depression and anxiety disorders commonly occur among patients with cancer and their family caregivers. This lecture focuses on the common symptoms and management strategies for depression and anxiety disorders in patients with cancer and their family members. — Medical and Surgical Oncology lectures offer FREE CNE, ASRT, and CME continuing education credit (upon approval) for eligible participants.

New Additions to the Learning Portal

by Jon Powell, PhD

The UNC Cancer Network’s Learning Portal (learn.unccn.org) offers FREE CME, CNE, and ASRT continuing education credits for oncology professionals through our self-paced, online courses. We recruit UNC faculty and other oncology professionals to deliver lectures on the latest treatments, clinical trials, and supportive services available to North Carolina cancer patients.

Katherine Morgan, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

Understanding Oncology Drug Interactions
https://learn.unccn.org/online-course-catalog/rn-and-allied-health-courses/
The narrow therapeutic index of oncology drugs makes understanding drug interactions critical for the safe and effective treatment of cancer patients. Small changes in the pharmacodynamics or pharmacokinetics of the drug can decrease efficacy or increase toxicity of the cancer drug potentially causing harm to patients during treatment.