ES07.03 Special Needs and Wellness in Lung Cancer Patients - European Perspective

Abstract

Special Needs and Wellness in Lung Cancer Patients - European Perspective: Early palliative care among patients with metastatic lung cancer can lead to improvements in various aspects such as quality of life, emotional stability and supportive environment. An integrative care, which combines the standard medical treatments of a palliative care, is considered to be the optimal care. The Palliative care discipline aims to improve patients’ quality of life and support their families, as they face a life-threatening illness. A key ingredient of this approach is the ability to identify and to map patients' needs and to address them in a holistic and systematic way. Each individual patient may have different needs, which include symptoms management, patient and family coping, information, social support, etc. This type of care requires the involvement of multidisciplinary team including Oncologist, Radiation unit, palliative team, Psychologist, social worker, spiritual guidance, community services such as home care unit or family physician, inpatient departments and day care treatment units. The need for multi-team effort makes the task of coordination and integration significantly challenging. In order to achieve this goal, the role of the nurse coordinator is both to be the actual coordinator of the various disciplines involved, as well as to mediate the massive amount of information to the patient and his main caregivers. Performing these tasks can reduce patients' confusion, frustration and exhaustion, and remove bureaucratic barriers. As part of this mission, the nurse coordinator builds a treatment plan with the patients and his / her family and main caregivers. During the dialogue, the nurse coordinator informs them about the various aspects of the diagnosis, treatment and the variety ways of coping. In addition, the nurse coordinator is responsible to implementing this multidisciplinary plan. One of the main challenges is maintaining the palliative treatment through a long term illness. As cancer medications might prolong life expectancy and improve patient's well – being, the sense of urgency of palliative care decreases along the patient's journey, despite its utmost importance in prevention of and coping with a commonly seen future deterioration. Whereas in Israel and some European countries the "nurse-coordinator” is inseparable unit in lung cancer case management, other sites are still in the process of adopting this approach. In my talk I will demonstrate this approach through a patient case From Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel. Early palliative care ,nurse coordinator, patients’ quality of life