Florida Hospitals Launch the Melanoma Nursing Exemplars Program!

Rosemary Giuliano, ARNP, MSN, Program Chair, Nursing Exemplars in Melanoma Patient Care, led a discussion on primary melanoma with nurses and other healthcare professionals at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, Florida. Ms Giuliano is a Surgical Hospitalist at Morton Plant North Bay and a steering committee member of the Melanoma Care Coalition.

Florida. Leaders in melanoma education in various practice settings launched the Melanoma Nursing Exemplars program this past Spring in Florida. The goal of this unique continuing education program, developed by an interdisciplinary panel of melanoma experts, is to promote interactive nursing education in melanoma.

Ask oncology patients about their interactions with their care team, and most of them will tell you about the relationship they develop with the nursing staff. The nurse often serves as a key resource for support and education during a stressful, and often overwhelming, experience. Despite their key roles in patient advocacy and as important members of the health care team, nurses have had few opportunities to lead interactive, customized melanoma education within their institutions and communities. Until now.

The Nursing Exemplars in Melanoma Patient Care program was designed to provide nurses with case-based interactive content to enhance their skills in caring for patients with melanoma. Developed under the auspices of the award-winning Melanoma Care Coalition, this program provides nurses and their peers with an opportunity to explore relevant case-based content and to share their own experiences with and knowledge of melanoma care—all within their local melanoma community.

Healthcare providers, including key physician leaders, recognize the value of this opportunity. At the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, Darcelle Welker, RN, Primary Nurse, Cutaneous Oncology Program, led a discussion with oncology and surgical nurses as well as physician team members about topics ranging from confusion about Clark’s level vs. melanoma stage, genetic testing, anxiety around the diagnosis of melanoma, patient perception about relapse risk, and methods to keep patients on adjuvant therapy. Vernon K. Sondak, MD, Chief of the Division of Cutaneous Oncology, and Jane Messina, MD, Associate Professor of Pathology/Medicine, joined the nurses in the animated discussion.

Rosemary Giuliano, ARNP, MSN, program chair, led the program at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, Florida. At her community hospital, the discussions among surgical nurses, oncology nurses, and members of the physician staff focused on clinical recognition of melanoma, genetic testing, the nurse’s role in patient education, and adjuvant therapy. The difference in focus is by design—since the local presenter can pick the content topics of interest to the community, every program has nationally vetted content but is tweaked based on the local educational need.

Lending support to the program in a unique way, Douglas Reintgen, MD, Director, Lakeland Regional Cancer Center, led the discussion with the nursing staff at Lakeland Regional Cancer Center in Lakeland, Florida. Dr. Reintgen’s group clearly articulated the role of the nurse in translating clinical prognostic information and helping patients wade through the various sources of information they receive from the healthcare team, the internet, and other sources. His group also emphasized the key role nurses play in supporting patients through therapy, such as interferon alfa-2b.

Janet Wortz, from the Florida Cancer Institute, conducted an extremely successful meeting in New Port Richey, Florida. Rosemary Giuliano was also in attendance and added her insights of melanoma care. The participants expanded their knowledge base concerning symptom management for the melanoma patient.

While maintaining its regional flavor, the program is taking on national and even international prominence. As part of this initiative, key learning “pearls” from the sessions are shared on the website (www.MelanomaNurse.org), encouraging a new dialogue among nurses in melanoma. Pearls from the Florida meetings are already available on the website. Ms. Giuliano recently presented the program to a group of European melanoma experts in Amsterdam. This gave her the chance to explore how the role of the nurse differs in Europe compared with the United States and to learn from their experience in patient care. Finally, several of the physicians from the Melanoma Care Coalition are exploring educational grants to bring some of the experienced Nurse Exemplars to their institutions to support their own institutionally-based nursing education.

According to Rosemary Giuliano, “These efforts aid in furthering the empowerment of nursing, giving the nursing exemplar the opportunity to see one, do one, and, hopefully, teach one. Nurses can develop their speaking skills and gain recognition within their institutions. I found that participating in such educational events helped me strengthen my presentation skills, gain recognition from my physician colleagues, and advance my career.”

The Melanoma Nursing Exemplars program is available to nurses throughout the country. Programs can be held within healthcare institutions (typically lunch-and-learns) or outside institutions during scheduled nursing meetings (ex, regional Oncology Nursing Society meetings). Rosemary Giuliano heartily encourages nurses to participate: “Sign up now to organize a Melanoma Nursing Exemplars meeting to share the values of collaborative patient care.” For more information or to register for a meeting, please see our website (http://www.melanomanurse.org) or contact Denise Frontin at (845)-398-5100. The Exemplars program is sponsored by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and is facilitated by PharmAdura, LLC. Support for the initiative has been supplied by an educational grant from Schering-Plough Corporation.

Darcelle Welker, RN, (top) led a discussion on genetic testing and the anxiety surrounding the melanoma diagnosis with a group of nurses at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center this past March. Vernon K. Sondak, Chief of the Division of Cutaneous Oncology and a member of the Melanoma Care Coalition (shown, with Ms. Welker, bottom panel), and pathologist Jane L. Messina, MD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Medicine, also participated in the program.

Douglas Reintgen, MD, Director, Lakeland Regional Cancer Center, and a member of the Melanoma Care Coalition led the discussion with nurses at Lakeland Regional Cancer Center in April.