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ASCO: You’re listening to a podcast from Cancer.Net. This cancer information website is produced by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, known as ASCO, the world’s leading professional organization for doctors who care for people with cancer.

This podcast is part of a series featuring articles from the 2016 ASCO Educational Book. Published annually, the Educational Book is a collection of articles written by ASCO Annual Meeting speakers and oncology experts. Each volume highlights the most compelling research and developments across the multidisciplinary fields of oncology.

Cancer care has become increasingly complex, so someone with cancer will be treated by a collaborative team of health care providers that includes doctors, nurses, and a wide range of additional specialists. In today’s podcast, Wendy Vogel discusses the role of oncology advanced practitioners, or APs, as a part of this multidisciplinary team. Ms. Vogel is an oncology nurse practitioner at Wellmont Cancer Institute in Kingsport, Tennessee. ASCO would like to thank Ms. Vogel for discussing this topic.

Wendy Vogel: Hello. My name is Wendy Vogel, and I'm an oncology nurse practitioner from the Wellmont Cancer Institute in Kingsport, Tennessee. I will be sharing some of the key points from my 2016 Educational Book article entitled “Oncology Advanced Practitioners Bring Advanced Community Oncology Care,” and I'll be talking about its implications for patients.

Oncology care is very complex and requires the skills of many different healthcare professionals to provide quality care to patients with cancer. The oncology advanced practitioner is a licensed healthcare professional who has completed advanced training in nursing or pharmacy in a master's or doctorate degree, or has completed training as a physician assistant, usually a master's degree. The legal scope of advanced practitioners varies from state to state, but most have prescriptive privileges. The American Society of Clinical Oncology has endorsed the utilization of advanced practitioners to improve the quality and efficiency of oncology care.

A study named The ASCO Study of Collaborative Practice Agreements noted that almost all oncology patients—92.5%—were extremely satisfied with advanced practitioner services. Advanced practitioners perform many different roles in oncology care. And because of the increasing demand for services and shortages of oncologists, you will see these clinicians expertly performing many roles that were traditionally filled by a physician. These roles might include performing physical exams, ordering labs and scans, giving you results of your scans, prescribing medication including chemotherapy, ordering treatment such as physical therapy or wound care.

Advanced practitioners may see you in the hospital. They often perform procedures such as bone marrow biopsies, skin biopsies, administration of intrathecal chemotherapy, thoracentesis and paracentesis. An advanced practitioner is an expert in symptoms management like nausea, vomiting, or pain. You may see advanced practitioners running many different clinics or programs such as survivorship, palliative care, or high risk cancer clinics. They may perform patient navigator services, case management, hospice, or palliative care. Some advanced practitioners work in research or higher education.

Please view my article online at asco.org/edbook for a more in-depth discussion of this topic. Thank you.

ASCO: Thank you Ms. Vogel. For in-depth profiles of other members of the cancer care team, please visit the Cancer.Net Blog at www.cancer.net/blog.

Cancer.Net is supported by the Conquer Cancer Foundation, which is working to create a world free from the fear of cancer by funding breakthrough research, sharing knowledge with physicians and patients worldwide, and supporting initiatives to ensure that all people have access to high-quality cancer care. Thank you for listening to this Cancer.Net Podcast.

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