Jacob J. Strand, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses tips and tools that clinicians can use to develop universal precautions for prescribing opioids in oncology and palliative care practice.
Jeremy Hirst, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, offers concrete advice on assessing the need for these medications, using them safely, and knowing when to deprescribe them.
Jamie Jacobs, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discusses study results that showed integrating oncology and palliative care early in the course of treatment helps people with incurable lung and gastrointestinal cancers cope better and have an improved quality of life and less depression (Abstract 92).
Sandip Patel, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses diagnosing and managing immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint blockade and the toxicities of these treatments.
Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, of OhioHealth, discusses an online curriculum that changed younger physicians’ use of palliative medicine in practice during the year after fellowship training (Abstract 202).
Anthony L. Back, MD, of the University of Washington, talks about how clinicians can protect themselves from burnout and develop resilience. The default approach––“pretending we are not affected by stress”––often backfires, he says, and makes caregivers more susceptible to workplace pressures.
