Oncology Team-Based Care
"Teams are defined as two or more people who ‘interact dynamically, interdependently, and adaptively’ to accomplish a shared goal."
Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) have been and continue to be an integral part of oncology care and a vital component of a successful oncology care team for all types of practice settings.
ASCO is your partner in your practice support & management needs. ASCO provides information on why effective teams are crucial, and how to best implement them, along with case studies and research on basic principles of establishing an oncology care team.
Learn more about what the ASCO Clinical Practice Committee's APP Task Force is doing to help emphasize APPs' important role in oncology practices by reading the ASCO Connection article, ASCO APP Task Force Champions Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) and Their Role on the Oncology Care Team.
Understand why oncology care teams with APPs are effective by
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Learning about the services that APPs can provide in an oncology practice and their important role in a team-based care approach by listening to one of the APP Task Force's podcast episodes, Advanced Practice Providers - APPs in Oncology.
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Understanding the various roles of APPs and the collaboration between healthcare providers via ASCO Education’s Cancer Care Team Roles course.
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Read about why and how APPs can improve practice efficiency, overall productivity, and patient & clinician satisfaction in ASCO’s Educational Books Oncology Advanced Practitioners Bring Advanced Community Oncology Care, Collaborating With Advanced Practice Providers: Impact and Opportunity, and Collaborative Practice in an Era of Multidisciplinary Care.
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ASCO Education’s course Team Care: Productivity versus Value will also describe more how productivity & value of a team can be measured.
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Learn about the complex factors (i.e. practice models and workforce changes) that contribute to cancer care delivery through ASCO Education’s Interprofessional Oncology Practice course.
Learn how to implement effective teams at your practice with models and practical strategies, and how clinicians can work well as a team by
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Understanding the concepts of APP onboarding, mentorship, scope of practice, top of license, and more, by reviewing the ASCO Educational Book article, Team-Based Care in Oncology: The Impact of the Advanced Practice Provider and corresponding Education Session from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, Building an Impactful Oncology Care Team With Aligning Incentives.
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Listening to the APP Task Force's episodes from their APP podcast series, Advanced Practice Providers - APPs 101: What and Who Are Advanced Practice Providers (APPs)?, Advanced Practice Providers - APPs 101: Physicians Assistants (PAs) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNS) in Oncology, and Advanced Practice Providers – An APP’s Scope of Practice. These episodes will highlight who, in your practice, is considered an advanced practice provider, what their roles look like, and how, based on those roles, their scope of practice may vary and how best to ensure they can practice at the top of their license and be a vital member of an oncology care team.
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Consider one practice's collaborative approach of establishing a strong, well-connected care team. Read the ASCO Connection article (you can download an editable document to help establish a standard of practice at your facility as well!): Set Up Your Collaborative Team for Success: A Guideline for Advanced Practice Provider/Physician Team-Based Care in Oncology.
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Reviewing ASCO’s Educational Book and past Education Session presented at ASCO’s Annual Meeting Practice Model for Advanced Practice Providers in Oncology as well as Efficient and Effective Models for Integrating Advanced Practice Professionals into Oncology Practice.
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Consider the goals of team-based care and learn more about four models of teams with ASCO Education’s Team-Based Practice Models course.
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Establishing clear and distinct roles for all clinicians and fostering a strong relationship between supervising physicians and APPs is also key in creating and maintaining effective teams. ASCO’s Educational Book The Advanced Practice Professionals' Perspective: Keys to a Good Working Relationship between Advanced Practice Professions and Physicians provides some additional insight into establishing those strong relationships.
Explore evidence, research, and studies surrounding teams in cancer care delivery from ASCO’s and NCI’s Cancer Care Delivery Workshop:
Onboarding and Orientation
Whether an advanced practice provider (APP) is new to the oncology specialty or is bringing years of oncology experience, providing comprehensive training, mentorship, onboarding, and orientation for new APPs is crucial to their individual success as well as the success of the oncology care team.
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The ASCO Clinical Practice Committee’s APP Task Force developed the APP Onboarding Resource as a guide to assist practices in the onboarding process of new oncology advanced practice providers.
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Learn more about hiring and onboarding APPs from ASCO expert volunteers by listening to the recording or reviewing the slides that were shared during a past ASCO Practice Leadership Webinar: Advanced Practice Providers – Hiring, Orientation, Onboarding
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Read about how one institution successfully developed and integrated a comprehensive, competency-based orientation and mentorship program for all new APPs: Development and implementation of a competency-based orientation program for advanced practice providers at an academic cancer center.
Clinical Oncology Education
ASCO offers a wide array of clinical education for oncology advanced practice providers, either for ongoing education or providing an introduction to new topics. Below are the educational courses that may be of particular interest to APPs. Additional educational courses can be accessed in ASCO’s Education catalog.
Oncology Topics
- Evaluation and Management of Metastatic Lung Cancer
- Evaluation and Management of Early-Stage & Locally Advanced Lung Cancer
- Introduction to Colorectal Cancer
- Use of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Special Populations
- Biomarkers for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy
- Immune-Related Adverse Effects: Checkpoint Inhibitors
- Immune-Related Adverse Effects: Combine Modality Therapy
- Monitoring and Grading Toxicities
- Mild to Moderate Toxicity Case Application: Pancreatic Cancer
- Management of Mild to Moderate Toxicity
- Introduction to Imaging in Oncology
- Tumor Grading
- Tumor Staging
- Introduction to Systemic Chemotherapy
Management of Oncologic Emergencies
- Biologics and Chemotherapy Hypersensitivity Reactions
- Hyponatremia
- Bowel Obstruction
- Management of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome
Cultural Literacy
- Cultural Humility
- Cancer Care for Sexual Minority Populations
- Cancer Care for Transgender and Gender-diverse Populations
- Patient-Centered Cancer Care for Older Adults
- Inequities Associated with Access to Quality Care
Cancer Pain
- Opioid Management
- Cancer Pain Treatment Selection
- Universal Precautions for Opioids
- Cancer Pain Assessment
Role of Surgery in Multidisciplinary Cancer Care
- Surgical Oncology and Role of the Care Team
- Enhanced Recovery After Surgery in Colorectal Cancer
- Surgical Options for Treatment of Breast Cancer
- Surgical Options for Treatment of Lung Cancer
Biostatistics in Oncology
Immunotherapy
- Cell-Based Immunotherapies
- Personalized Therapy: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs. Other Systemic Therapy
- Immunotherapy Response Assessment
Beyond Cytotoxics: Targeted Biologic Agents
- Introduction to Targeted Biologic Agents
- HDAC, PARP, and Proteasome Inhibitors
- EGFR, HER2, BRAF, and MEK Inhibitors
- Angiogenesis Inhibitors
- Immune Checkpoint Therapy
- Bispecific Antibodies and Antibody-Drug Conjugates
- Biosimilars in Oncology
Genetics and Genomics