Clinician Guidance on Resources for Patients Provided by AIM at Skin Cancer

The goals of nonprofit advocacy organizations and patient navigation services are to help facilitate high-quality cancer care for patients and improve the quality of life for those undergoing cancer treatment and beyond. And AIM at Skin Cancer—an organization founded to address the needs of caregivers, families, and patients with skin cancer—is no exception.

For patients with skin cancer to benefit from the services of organizations such as AIM at Skin Cancer, they have to become knowledgeable about the array of services offered, and health-care providers are a valuable source of guidance for these patients. With this in mind, AIM at Skin Cancer has recently offered some helpful clinical suggestions for clinicians to ensure their patients with skin cancer are aware of these resources and how they may aid them during and after their cancer treatments. Many of these services are free, such as the Ask a Skin Cancer Nurse program, which enables patients to confidentially ask questions of a nurse with years of experience in treating skin cancer and provides suggestions for management of treatment side effects.

In addition, AIM at Skin Cancer collaborates with advocacy groups in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and Italy in an attempt to address language and communication barriers to health literacy. Patient education resources and videos for health-care provider treatment management are provided in native languages for patients and practitioners, respectively.

Finally, helping patients with skin cancer to learn about the availability of clinical trials enrolling at different cancer centers is essential for patient advocacy organizations. Patients cannot be expected to keep up with new drug or medical device approvals and to read abundant literature on up-and-coming treatment options, so the role of advocacy organizations here is particularly important.

For the full clinician guidance on resources for patients with skin cancer from AIM at Skin Cancer, view here.

AIM at Skin Cancer Offers Clinician Guidance on Patient Resources and Education