Open AccessDeveloping and Sustaining an Effective and Resilient Oncology Careforce: Opportunities for Action
Author(s) -
Samuel U Takvorian,
Erin Balogh,
Sharyl J. Nass,
Virginia L. Valentin,
Lori Hoffman-Högg,
Randall A. Oyer,
R. W. Carlson,
Neal J. Meropol,
Lisa Kennedy Sheldon,
Lawrence N. Shulman
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the national cancer institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.797
H-Index - 356
eISSN - 1460-2105
pISSN - 0027-8874
DOI - 10.1093/jnci/djz239
Subject(s) - workforce , burnout , medicine , economic shortage , resilience (materials science) , call to action , quality (philosophy) , nursing , psychological resilience , oncology , family medicine , political science , psychology , business , marketing , clinical psychology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , epistemology , government (linguistics) , law , psychotherapist , thermodynamics
Advances in cancer care have led to improved survival, which, coupled with demographic trends, have contributed to rapid growth in the number of patients needing cancer care services. However, with increasing caseload, care complexity, and administrative burden, the current workforce is ill equipped to meet these burgeoning new demands. These trends have contributed to clinician burnout, compounding a widening workforce shortage. Moreover, family caregivers, who have unique knowledge of patient preferences, symptoms, and goals of care, are infrequently appreciated and supported as integral members of the oncology "careforce." A crisis is looming, which will hinder access to timely, high-quality cancer care if left unchecked. Stemming from the proceedings of a 2019 workshop convened by the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, this commentary characterizes the factors contributing to an increasingly strained oncology careforce and presents multilevel strategies to improve its efficiency, effectiveness, and resilience. Together, these will enable today's oncology careforce to provide high-quality care to more patients while improving the patient, caregiver, and clinician experience.