Behind the Scenes — August 2019

From the Telehealth Director

Dear UNC Cancer Network Community Members,

Yes, We Have Free Self-Paced Online Courses!

It seems like nearly every week, there is someone who comes up to me and says something along the lines of: “UNCCN has great live lectures. I only wish they were at a time when I could watch them.” The great news is that for well over a year now, we have offered a wide variety of free, oncology-centered, for-credit courses that you can watch on your own schedule. Simply go to https://learn.unccn.org where you will find approximately 24 free course which offer free CNE, ASRT, and ACPE credit. Additionally, half of these courses (the Medical and Surgical Oncology courses) have free CME credit.

Please help us continue to spread the work about both our live and self-paced lectures. A link to everything lecture-related can be found at www.unccn.org. If you have just a few extra minutes a month, you can help us out by being a Lecture Promoter. Please contact us at 919-445-1000 or at unccn@unc.edu for details.

Let me close by saying a huge thank you to the nearly 400 of you who participated in our annual survey. We had an overwhelming response from our community, and we are deeply appreciative. Over the next few weeks we will be working hard to combine survey results with responses from lecture evaluations and other data to provide what we hope will be the best lecture season yet in 2020!!! Please stay tuned.

All the best,

Tim.

Triage Cancer Conference

Triage Cancer offers a series of FREE educational conferences for individuals diagnosed with cancer, caregivers, advocates, and oncology healthcare professionals. Learn valuable information about navigating practical cancer survivorship issues, from beyond diagnosis, into post-treatment survivorship.

Check out the website for more information about events, speakers, dates, locations, resources, conference topics, travel assistance, and presenting sponsors.

2019–2020 North Carolina Community College Series Lineup

by Jon Powell, PhD

The UNC Cancer Network has firmed up its 2019–2020 North Carolina Community College Series lecture lineup. These lectures are aimed at community college students throughout North Carolina so as to help them learn more about careers in oncology-related health care fields. Each lecture can include information about different cancers, types of screening methods, treatments, case studies, caregiving support networks, and career paths. All lectures are on Wednesdays from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. This year’s lineup is:

• September 18, 2019
  An Introduction to Radiation Oncology
  Ashley A. Weiner, MD, PhD

• October 16, 2020
  Caring for the Patient with Breast Cancer
  Panel of Breast Cancer Nurse Navigators

• February 19, 2020
  Caring for the Patient with Lung Cancer
  Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, MSc

• March 18, 2020
  Oncology Nutrition
  Jennifer Spring, RD, CSO, LDN

If you know any healthcare instructors and/or students, please share this exciting lineup with them! We update our NC Community College calendar with new information as we receive it.

Additionally, all of our past NC Community College lectures can be found on our Learning Portal Community College Oncology Courses page. Each course includes a short assessment to review the course’s information and a General Participation certificate to validate the student’s use of the course.

The Patient Education Corner

Expert information for the patients you care for in language that everyone can understand
by Jennifer Potter, MPH, CHES

Get Started with Exercise

Do you want to start exercising but don’t know where to start? In this talk, the audience will learn more about the benefits of physical activity and steps they can take to live a more active life. Presented by DJ Amatuli, ACSM, CPT, a lead trainer with the Get REAL & HEEL program in UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Our next Cancer Conversations webinar is on 8/30/19 at 12:00 noon. Viewers can register by clicking here.

Upcoming Live Events

August 14, 2019
Shifali Arora, MD

Kathleen Ferrell, PA-C

The Many Roads of Esophageal Cancer: Treatments, Side Effects and Common Complications
https://unclineberger.org/unclcn/professional-education/calendars/telehealth-lectures/”

Esophageal cancer can be especially difficult for patients, since it directly affects their ability to swallow. The discussion will include HER 2 NEU testing for esophageal cancer as well as how to help patients who have esophagogastretomies. We will also talk about nutritional support for these patients.

August 28, 2019
Jared Weiss, MD

Tracy Rose, MD, MPH

Best of ASCO 2019: Lung and Genitourinary Cancers
https://unclineberger.org/unclcn/professional-education/calendars/telehealth-lectures/”

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hosts an annual conference that features some of the latest oncology research. Join us as our speaker highlights some of the top presentations from this year’s ASCO conference. This lecture focuses on the top research for Lung and Genitourinary Cancers at the 2019 ASCO conference.

Recent Additions to the Learning Portal

Tammy Allred, RN, OCN

Preparing Patients for Treatment
https://learn.unccn.org/online-course-catalog/rn-and-allied-health-courses/”

When a patient has received the life-changing news, she or he can feel overwhelmed by the need to digest the diagnosis while understanding and making decisions about sometimes rather complex treatment options. How do we plan and schedule the education for new chemo patients in a timely manner prior to the first day of chemo? What can we do to help the patient understand how the drugs work, what symptoms they can expect, and how they can deal with those symptoms?

Marc Bjurlin, DO, MSc, FACOS

Meredith Crabtree, FNP-C

Prostate Cancer Screening
https://learn.unccn.org/online-course-catalog/rn-and-allied-health-courses/”

The most common non-skin cancer among men in the U.S., prostate cancer can be difficult to catch early. With this lecture, we will talk about screening methods, such as MRI and MRI- ultrasound targeted fusion biopsy as a risk stratification tool for men at risk for prostate cancer. For men who undergo radiation treatment, we will also touch on which ones might consider utilizing hydrogels. We will also discuss the nurse’s role in prostate cancer screening and care.

Trevor Hackman, MD, FACS

The Role and Importance of HPV Infection in Head and Neck Cancer
https://learn.unccn.org/online-course-catalog/medical-and-surgical-oncology-courses/”

Dr. Trevor Hackman is the Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Fellowship and specializes in treatment of patients with diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, throat (ENT), with a focus in head and neck oncology. In this lecture, he will talk about the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in head and neck cancers in terms of epidemiology, vaccination, molecular/genomics, de-escalation, role of TORS, and immunotherapy.