INSTRUCTION IN THE TECHNIQUES AND CONCEPT OF SUPPORTIVE CARE IN ONCOLOGY

Cancer education merits a coordinated, vertical curriculum and an inte grated planning strategy. It has become clear that it is as important to teach the techniques of supportive care in oncology as it is to tea ch the concepts of cancer biology, pathology, epidemiology, prevention , detection and aggressive treatments. Our aim is to determine whether the medical school and nursing school curricula give the students an introduction to the concepts of supportive care of the cancer patient. The spectrum of such supportive care encompasses a wide range of issu es working towards a common goal of providing overall comfort with an emphasis on quality of life, and runs parallel with specific therapeut ic strategies and associated problems. Do the graduate medical student and nursing student understand that cancer management is multidiscipl inary and team-based? That the approach to pain management not only in cludes the administration of pain medications, hut should also evaluat e pain assessment and anesthetic, neurosurgical and behavioral approac hes? That nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy can he amel iorated to a certain extent? That infections are common but algorithms exist for prevention and therapy? That certain metabolic complication s are unique to cancer patients? That transfusions are vital procedure s in patients with neoplasms undergoing aggressive treatments but are associated with certain risks and complications? That there are seriou s psychosocial, ethical and legal needs to be considered? To address t hese issues, the American Cancer Society Professors of Clinical Oncolo gy, the American Cancer Society Professors of Oncology Nursing and the United States Cancer Center Directors were surveyed. ID general, prof essors perceived that education in cancer and its supportive care was well done at their schools of medicine and nursing; however, students' perceptions of their education differed from that of the professors. The paper includes suggestions to curriculum directors of medical and nursing schools for constructive changes with regard to instruction in the techniques of supportive care in oncology.