Ask your cancer care team, friends and family, and cancer support groups what they think. Make a list of the exact areas where you need help, then compare the services of each company. Read reviews and look into the image of each business.
When different types of cancer care workers work together as a multidisciplinary team (MDT), the main goal is to improve the efficiency of treatment and the quality of care for patients.
One or more main doctors, such as a medical oncologist, surgical oncologist, or radiation oncologist, are in charge of treating most types of cancer. You may also need to see an interventional doctor for some types of cancer. Everyone on this list has a clear set of skills and methods for handling cancer.
The multidisciplinary team lets all of these experts work together to plan your care. This cuts down on the time it takes to learn about your cancer and come up with a treatment plan. Multidisciplinary teams make it easier for people to talk to each other, make decisions, and work together to get your care.
A multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT) is a get-together of health care workers once a week or once a month to talk about specific patient cases. Each person who has been newly diagnosed with cancer is talked about, and the team looks over their tests and biopsies.
Mentor Angels are an important part of the cancer journey of Support Seekers. By hearing, supporting, and sharing your own experience, you give someone the comfort, connection, and understanding they need in their darkest hour. Mentor Angels are the best way to remember that we are never really alone.
Mentor Angels are an important part of the cancer journey of Support Seekers. By hearing, supporting, and sharing your own experience, you give someone the comfort, connection, and understanding they need in their darkest hour. Mentor Angels are the best way to remember that we are never really alone.
Personalized medicine in cancer care
What’s exciting about the fight against cancer is that doctors are finding new ways to treat each person’s cancer in a way that is just right for them. Personalized care is the name for this. Doctors aren’t giving everyone the same care. Instead, they’re looking at what makes each person unique and making a treatment plan just for them. Personalized medicine in oncology: what it is, how it works, and how it’s changing the lives of cancer patients are all things that this blog will talk about.
What does personalized medicine mean?
When someone has the same type of cancer, doctors usually treat them in the same way. But every person is unique. Personalized medicine tries to figure out what makes each person different. To figure out the best way to treat you, it looks at your genes (the things that make you unique), your health, and the way you live your life.
The Fun Part
The cool thing is that genes help doctors figure out the best way to treat you. A small piece of your DNA is used to do this. DNA is like the manual for your body. Docs can learn a lot about your cancer by reading it. This helps them figure out the best ways to treat you.
Tips for Making Customized Medicine Work
First, a small piece of your DNA is taken by the doctors. They then look at this sample to see if your genes have any unique traits that could help or hurt your cancer. Once they know this, they can pick treatments that focus on those specific things. You have to use a secret code to find the right key that will kill the cancer.
Why customized medicine is great
- Treatment That Works Better: Because personalized medicine is made just for you, treatments that use it work better. This means that the cancer is more likely to be cured by the treatment.
- Fewer Side Effects: Some cancer medicines can make you sick. This is what personalized medicine tries to avoid by only going after cancer cells and leaving the healthy ones alone.
- Smarter Choices: Doctors don’t have to try a bunch of treatments until they find one that works. Instead, they can use your genes to pick the best treatment right away.
- Getting better: Since the treatment is customized for you, you’re more likely to feel better and enjoy life during and after treatment.
- Cancer Early: Also, personalized treatment can help find cancer early. The genes you have help doctors figure out if you are more likely to get certain types of cancer. They can check on you more often and find cancer early if it does happen.
The problems we face and what’s next
Personalized medicine is great, but it can be hard to use at times. Testing your DNA can be very expensive, and the results aren’t always easy to understand. Plus, doctors can’t always target certain parts of the genes of some types of cancer.
Don’t worry, though; experts are on it. They’re always coming up with new ways to test things that are easier and cheaper. There are also new discoveries being made about genes and cancer. This means that personalized treatment may help even more people in the future.
Personalized care and better results for quality of life
There are more people with and without cancer than ever before. Getting care that is specifically designed for someone’s needs can make a big difference in their experience and quality of life.
Cancer Alliances work to make sure that everyone who has been diagnosed with cancer gets personalized care and support. This work is mostly about three things:
- Giving individualized care and support
- Giving personalized, grouped follow-up care
How to measure life happiness
Giving individualized care and support
Everyone who has been identified with cancer will be able to get personalised care, such as a needs assessment, a care plan, and information and support about their health and wellbeing, according to the NHS Long Term Plan for Cancer.
People with breast, colorectal, prostate, and other types of cancer will be able to get these personalized care interventions by March 2022 thanks to the work of Cancer Alliances, trusts, and general care. It is our opinion that about 80% of cancer multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) now offer Personalized Care and Support Planning.
- Personalised Care and Support Planning, which is based on full needs assessments, makes sure that people’s mental, social, practical, and physical needs are all met as soon as possible.
- End of Treatment Summaries give both the person and their doctor useful information, like a full account of the treatment that was done, any possible side effects, warning signs and symptoms of a return, and how to be reached if there are any worries.
- The person with cancer and their primary care doctor or nurse talk about their journey during a primary care cancer care review. This gives them a chance to talk about their worries and, if necessary, be directed to services or given information about help and information that is available in their community and from groups.
- Health and Wellbeing Information and Support includes giving people easy-to-find information about getting mental support, dealing with side effects, getting back to work, managing money, and living a healthy life. You can get this help before, during, and after cancer treatment.
Giving personalized, grouped follow-up care
“After treatment, the person will move to a follow-up pathway that suits their needs and ensures they can get rapid access to clinical support where they are worried that their cancer may have recurred,” says the NHS Long Term Plan for Cancer.
Personalized Stratified Follow-Up (PSFU) is an important part of giving people with cancer access to world-class services while also dealing with the real problems of demand and capacity across all cancer pathways. Patients get better care and have a better experience when PSFU routes are used. It frees up doctors’ time to work on other parts of the cancer pathway, like faster detection and treatment, or patients who have complex needs after treatment, by cutting down on the time they spend seeing patients who are doing well after treatment.
Having PSFU routes means that after a person finishes their main treatment, they will be given:
- details on what symptoms and signs to look out for that could mean their cancer has come back;
- quick access to their cancer team again, including the ability to call for help and advice if they are afraid about any symptoms or possible side effects of their treatment;
- regular scans or tests for monitoring (depending on the type of cancer), and results should be available more quickly and easily so that there is little stress.
- personalized care, help planning, and help with self-management to help them improve their health and well-being over time.
- As of the end of Quarter 3, 20/21, 87% of trusts had operational PSFU protocols in place for breast cancer patients and 62% of trusts had operational PSFU protocols in place for prostate and colorectal patients. This shows that good progress has been made.
For more information
Advice: Setting up personalized, tier-based follow-up paths
Case study: Salisbury women who have had breast cancer can feel more confident
How to measure life happiness
The NHS Long Term Plan for Cancer said it would “introduce a new quality of life metric to track and respond to the long-term effects of cancer.”
To keep our promise, we are conducting a national survey on the quality of life for people with cancer. People with breast, prostate, or colon cancer were asked to fill out the poll in September 2020, about 18 months after they were diagnosed. From July 2021 on, people with other types of cancer who had been diagnosed 18 months before were also asked to take the poll.
Finding out what effect cancer has on people and how well they are living after being diagnosed is what measuring quality of life is all about. This covers a lot of different worries, like how people feel emotionally or socially, their money, and long-term health issues like pain and tiredness.
Up until now, there have been no official “metrics” or measures that look at the quality of life of people with cancer who have been diagnosed and are being treated. The survey data gives us this knowledge, which helps us help the growing number of people who have cancer or have survived it.
When you visit someone, this is true whether they are at home or in the hospital. “Getting sick can happen at any time,” says Cammarata. “Allow your friend to say no to a visit, and be kind and understanding that someone who is sick might call and cancel at the last minute.” If you call or email your friend and don’t hear back, don’t take it personally
Blackler says that if you do go to visit, don’t stay too long. You don’t want your friend to feel like they have to entertain you. She says to ask, “I can stay longer, if you’re not sure how long to stay.” Would you like me to leave and come back another time?“
Make a phone team
A lot of people with cancer find it hard to keep their friends and family up to date on their latest news. Cammarata says to set up a phone team so that when you call, only one of your friends will do it and then the rest of the group will hear the news. Also, this person can let everyone know if the friend wants to talk on the phone more or just be alone.
Offer to help with everyday things
If your friend finds it hard to ask for help, Cammarata and Blackler say that one of the best things you can do is offer to help them with daily tasks like grocery shopping, babysitting, picking up the kids from school, or doing laundry. Cammarata says to write down the things you’re willing to do and then ask your friend how you can help.
Blackler says that if you’re going to the store for your own family, call your friend to see if there’s anything else you can get.
Pay attention
Cammarata says, “The most important and helpful things are small, like listening.” It’s also okay to say that you don’t know how to start the talk.
Blackler says, “It’s okay to say you feel awkward.” “You can say, ‘This is so hard,'” “I don’t know what to say.” It’s a way to face the truth instead of acting like it’s not happening.
Listen to what your friend says
In the same way, ask your friend what you should talk about. “Cancer patients sometimes get angry when their friends don’t want to talk about it.” “It makes people angry because it’s a big part of their lives,” Blackler says. Others, on the other hand, find it helpful to talk about something other than cancer and treatment.
“Do you want to talk about it?” is a good question to ask if you may not be sure. I’m here if that’s the case. If you don’t mind, let’s get lunch and talk about what’s going on in the neighborhood.
Keep in mind that everyone’s sickness is different
Remember that everyone’s signs and cancer are different, even if your friend has the same type of cancer as someone else you know. You might want to look at your own life to find something you have in common with them, but Cammarata says you shouldn’t.
She says, “Don’t say, ‘My friend also has stage 4 colon cancer, and they’re doing great.'” Putting illnesses next to each other doesn’t help.
Don’t give food as a gift
You might have thought about making a stew, soup, or another dish in the oven. But remember that your friend might need to follow a special diet during treatment, feel sick and throw up, or be more likely to get infections, says Cammarata. There are times when it might be better not to give food instead.
Give things with thought
There are several things that can make it hard to give a gift. If someone has a weak nervous system, flowers might not be the best choice. When someone has cancer, gifts that smell strong can be too much for them. But while getting chemotherapy, reading, watching movies, or doing games may be nice things to do.
Blackler thinks of a patient who got a gift card for a house cleaning service. She says that using the gift card to pay for something helped out around the house and wasn’t as awkward as having a friend come in and clean.
Cammarata remembers a gift that a group of friends gave him that was really special. Everyone was given a page, and they filled it with things they liked about the patient, pictures, motivational quotes, and funny stories. She says, “I thought that was such a cute idea.”
Help family members and workers as well
She says, “People are so focused on the patients and how they’re doing that they forget to ask the caregivers how they’re doing.” “Caregivers are stressed out because they’re trying to do everything they need to do and take on new tasks that the sick person used to do.”
To offer your help, you could watch the kids for the night or drive them to soccer practice. It’s also possible to help out by just sitting in the hospital room while the nurse goes to get a coffee.
After the initial diagnosis, keep giving help
It’s not always at the start of an illness that people need help. “They need help all along the continuum,” says Cammarata. People who want to help often “flood in at the beginning of the diagnosis and then it starts to trickle,” she says. “Remember that they need help more than just when they’re first diagnosed or in the hospital.”
If you’re in a church group or something similar, you might want to have everyone take turns helping out so that the help is spread out. Blackler also says that you should offer to help more than once, but not too often. Come back in a week or two.
Throughout it all, remember the person most of all. Think about what makes them comfortable, what they like and don’t like, and what they need.
Blackler says, “It’s about helping without being too much.” “People have the power to make a difference in the lives of patients.”
One treatment plan doesn’t work for everyone! Why?
Among other things, the patient’s age, medical history, other illnesses, any organs that are affected, the type and stage of cancer, the patient’s general health, and many other things should lead to the choice of treatments. When treating people who have other illnesses, extra care needs to be taken.
personalized cancer care for each patient to cut down on side effects and raise the chance of life
Personalized cancer care is the answer. This is a way of treating cancer that makes a specific treatment plan for each patient by looking at their genes, medical history, lifestyle, and other factors. Personalized care includes managing comorbidities, making it easier to coordinate care, and knowing the patient’s specific needs in addition to cancer evaluation and treatment.
What does it mean to get personalized care for cancer?
Researchers looked at human genes and changes (genetic mutations) in different cancers to come up with personalized cancer care. All of these studies helped researchers figure out how to treat each patient in a way that works best for them. Compared to other types of cancer medicines, it gives the best results and may have fewer side effects because it is made just for the patient.
In simple words, personalized cancer care means giving the right person the right treatment at the right time based on their gene changes and the type of cancer they have.
Why is it important?
The time between treatment and healing is very important for a cancer survivor’s long-term health.
People who have been identified with the same type of cancer can have different symptoms and respond to treatment in different ways. Another possibility is that cancers in various body parts may share the same genetic flaws and therefore respond similarly to treatments.
This is because each patient has different needs. So, personalized cancer care is very important for each patient, where the treatment plan is made based on their specific needs.
Through personalized cancer care, patients can also get a number of new targeted treatments that work better and more effectively.
We offer personalized cancer care through our multidisciplinary team
Onco Cancer Centers are ahead of the curve when it comes to personalized treatments that are meant to get good treatment outcomes with thorough processes. There are medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, doctors, and other health care workers on our multidisciplinary team. Our team of experts can work together on our Tumour Board Service to come up with a good treatment plan that fits the needs of each patient. Our internal medical team is made up of doctors who use a variety of treatment methods. There will be less stress if they can explain your illness and show you the next steps in your treatment and healing.
Our care manager is there to help with all parts of cancer care so that treatment goes well and the person recovers quickly. The care manager helps you make plans ahead of time for each treatment session. Our Onco Cancer Care app also gives you direct access to our doctors, so you can get in touch with them whenever you need to.
With personalized care, we want to improve the patient’s health and well-being by managing comorbidities, short- and long-term side effects, and treatment toxicities. We also want to make sure that treatments work better, increase survival rates, improve quality of life, and lower overall healthcare costs.
Why personalized cancer care is a good idea
A Better Result
One of the best things about personalized cancer care is that it can lead to better outcomes. Taking into account what makes each patient unique can help doctors give better care that is tailored to each patient’s needs. This might help handle the cancer better and make the patient’s quality of life better.
Having fewer side effects
Another good thing about it is that it might lower the chance of side effects. Personalized cancer care can lower the chance of side effects by making sure that treatment is tailored to each patient’s needs. This helps people handle their treatment better and lessens the effect it has on their daily lives.
Less money spent
Individualized care for people with cancer can also help bring down the general cost of treatment. If you tailor your treatment to your specific needs, you might be able to avoid expensive methods that aren’t likely to help your cancer. This could help the customer save money on costs.
So, how does personalized care for cancer work in real life?
Personalized care for people with cancer can be used in a number of ways. One way is to do genetic tests on a patient’s cancer cells to find specific gene mutations or biomarkers. After getting this information, a personalized treatment plan can be made for each patient based on their unique genetic make-up.
Imaging technology can be used to make thorough pictures of a patient’s cancer, which is another way to provide personalized cancer care. This can help doctors figure out where the cancer is and how big it is, as well as how it might react to different medicines.
Personalized cancer care may also include a number of supporting therapies that are meant to help patients deal with the side effects of their treatment and make their quality of life better in general. This could include things like weight loss counseling, exercise therapy, and emotional support.
What to take away
Personalized cancer care is an important way to treat cancer because it takes into account how each patient’s cancer is different. Personalized cancer care can lead to better outcomes, fewer side effects, and lower costs by making sure that treatment is tailored to each patient’s specific needs. Interdisciplinary personalized cancer care is growing and could change the way we treat cancer and make the lives of many people around the world better.
