Скачать или смотреть How Nurses Can Educate Patients About Multiple Myeloma

Beth Faiman, PhD, MSN, APN-BC, AOCN®, BMTCN®, FAAN, FAPO, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses what nurses should know about multiple myeloma and how treatment for the rare blood cancer has changed over the years.

“Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells and it's a chronic condition—not curable for most—but it's highly treatable through the evolution of all these new therapies,” Dr. Faiman explained.

For example, novel therapies such as bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T-cells are now treatment options for multiple myeloma. There are also more “standard therapies” such as anti-CD38 treatments, monoclonal antibodies, and proteasome inhibitors, Dr. Faiman said.

“We can mix and match all these drug classes to find the right medication for the right patient at the right time to hopefully keep them in remission and living well for a long, long time,” Dr. Faiman said. “And the nurse's role in supporting them throughout their journey is critical to provide education, information and support throughout.”

Dr. Faiman explained how nurses can help educate patients and caregivers about multiple myeloma and address misconceptions.

“Multiple myeloma is one of those rare cancers, and whenever patients are diagnosed, inevitably many of them think it's melanoma,” Dr. Faiman said. “So, one of the things I try is to educate patients and their caregivers on simply what myeloma is… [it’s] an excess protein in the blood and it's a cancer within the bone marrow plasma cells.”

Dr. Faiman spoke about how the understanding of multiple myeloma has evolved over the years and explained the clinical implications of this improved knowledge.

“When we first started treating myeloma years and years ago, we had very basic diagnostic techniques,” she said. “So not only now do we have better understanding of the disease, better diagnostic techniques, but [we also have a] better understanding of the drugs that we have to use to treat the cancer. We used to start with just plain old chemotherapies and now this has evolved into immunotherapy.”

This improved understanding of the rare blood cancer has led to increased treatment options, but these additional options also come with added complexity and considerations, Dr. Faiman explained.

“Imagine the nurse in the 1990s compared to the nurses now—all the different drugs, I think over 20 drug combinations are listed in the NCCN, or National Comprehensive Cancer Network, guidelines for the management of myeloma—the learning curve has changed not only for the nurses, but for the patients, and for the outcomes of those that are treated for the disease.”