ONS Connect - June 2008 - (Page 11)

Deborah Erwin, PhD (left), and Maureen Kelly, RN, MS, OCN® (right), say that patient navigators help reduce barriers for minorities and medically underserved patients. Historically, ethnic minorities and the medically underserved have not benefited from advances in cancer screening and treatment (ACS, 2008c). Although ACS (see sidebar on p. 13) and other groups offer programs directed at increasing awareness and screening, efforts to date may have had little effect on reducing disparities (ACS, 2008b). “Cancer disparities are a matter of social justice and scientific rigor,” says Deborah Erwin, PhD, medical anthropologist and director of cancer health disparities research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo, NY. “If we are not providing cancer care to all of our community, we are not able to offer clinical research advances and studies to all patients equally. . . . The differences in cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, and mortality by race, ethnicity, income, or access may hold keys to scientific inquiry on behavioral, social, cellular, and genetic levels.” In other words, addressing cancer disparities not only allocates care equally but can help us better understand how to provide better cancer care to all members of society. Patient Navigation According to ONS member Mary Gullatte, PhD, RN, APRN, BC, AOCN®, FAAMA, associate chief nursing officer for Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, GA, “health disparities in the United States can generally be summed into four areas: minority community, socioeconomically disadvantaged, knowledge deficits, and uninsured. . . . Actions holding potential for the greatest impact would address each or all of these areas, including having a navigator who advocates for patients when they encounter the healthcare system. June 2008 ONS CONNECT 11

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ONS Connect - June 2008 Contents Editor's Note Just In They Have a Dream A Year in the Life—Month Six Web Connect Capitol Connection Notice Nursing Now Caregiver Care Manage Skin Toxicities Associated With EGFR Inhibitors Blood Test for Ovarian Cancer May Be 99 Percent Accurate Calendar of Events Working For You Staying On Top

ONS Connect - June 2008

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