MASCC 2016 | Early intervention, nutrition management and patient engagement

Merran Findlay, AdvAPD of The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, discusses clinical guidelines and available literature on patient care from stages of pre-treatment to follow-up oncological care. She provides an insight into the clinical practice guidelines published onto a platform, which provides a thorough overview into appropriate access to care, nutrition quality and care, evaluation and monitoring. This looks into what patients should have available to them, from pre-treatment and primary oncological treatment, to follow-up oncological care; whether it concerns palliative care or survivorship issues.Typically patients need early nutrition intervention, especially with head and neck cancer, so patients should be seen on an on-going basis to ensure they remain well nourished, well hydrated, and are able to get through treatment. Implementation of dietetic care fails 70% of the time, and since it does not happen independently of all the moving parts of the healthcare system, understanding current practices and patient engagement is essential to optimizing the implementation of the guidelines. Recorded at the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) 2016 Annual Meeting on Supportive Care in Cancer held in Adelaide, Australia.