Advanced Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Who Is on Your Healthcare Team?
Advanced Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Who Is on Your Healthcare Team? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
What experts make up an advanced non-melanoma skin cancer care team? Dr. Sunandana Chandra shares an overview of typical team members who work together for optimal patient care.
Dr. Sunandana Chandra is a medical oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Learn more about Dr. Chandra.
Related Resources:
Why Do Advanced Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer Patients Need a Multidisciplinary Care Team? |
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Transcript:
Katherine:
People with advanced non-melanoma skin cancer typically need a multidisciplinary team. Who all is on that team?
Dr. Chandra:
So, typically the members of a multidisciplinary team include a dermatologist, including potentially a Mohs surgeon if one is available, a surgeon or a surgical oncologist, a pathologist, specifically, a dermatopathologist, if they’re available, because they really focus on scan pathology.
A medical oncologist, a radiologist who could help us read the imaging, and a radiation oncologist who can actually use radiation to treat certain spots. Now, in addition, we can often also include our palliative and supportive oncology colleagues, especially in the settings where people may have some difficult-to-treat symptoms. They may have enough of an advanced disease where we need to start kind of talking about a person’s goals of care and what their own wishes are for their cancer management and for their life. So, these palliative and supportive oncology colleagues are very, very helpful in those situations.
Katherine:
Are there also people like social workers, nutritionists?
Dr. Chandra:
Absolutely. Absolutely.
So, you know, our social workers, our nurse navigators, our nutritionist and dietitian colleagues, our nurses, our nurse practitioners, I mean, our pharmacists, it takes such a village to help take care of our patients. And I hope a patient or a person realizes that having this village at their fingertips and at our disposal only enhances their care. It’s not meant to complicate their care. It’s not meant to add unnecessary appointments. It’s just to really deliver expert care by each of these individuals who really have a focus on a particular aspect of the delivery of care.
