Treatment & Side Effects
The role of the general practitioner in cancer care is evolving. In addition to the long-standing and well-established role of the GP in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, support and palliation, GPs are now playing a larger role in treatment and follow-up (McAvoy 2007). This includes haematological and biochemical tests prior to chemotherapy cycles and the management of side effects. Following active treatment, GPs are increasingly involved in survivorship care and palliative care (Mitchell 2008).
In a recent survey, GPs were asked what topic relating to cancer care was most useful to them. The number one area was “keeping up to date with common cancer treatments and potential side effects” (Haynes 2013).
eviQ
eviQ is a resource put out by the Cancer Institute NSW, which has become the preferred provider of evidence-based cancer treatment information at the point of care. Its secondary purpose is to provide reference standards to support measurement and reporting of the delivery of cancer treatments, in order to determine strategies to reduce variation and improve patient outcomes. Registration is free and only takes a few minutes to complete.
Management Frameworks
Cancer Council Tasmania has developed evidence-based Patient Management Treatment Frameworks
Currently, frameworks are available for the following malignancies:
- Acute Myeloid Leukemia
- Breast Cancer
- Colorectal Cancer
- Head & Neck Cancers
- Lung Cancer
- Malignant Glioma
- Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma
- Prostate Cancer
e-Health
The Department of Health and Ageing has launched the e-Health Record System across Australia. Health professionals can sign-up and maintain a record of their patient’s health record including event and discharge summaries, medicare information, advance care directive custodians and more.
Useful links
- Peter Mac- Information about Chemotherapy for GPs
- PDQ (Physician Data Query) – National Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Cancer Database
Summaries are available in two formats: one for patients and one for health professionals. The versions for health professionals are peer-reviewed, evidence-based and fully referenced with links to PubMed abstracts. - CI-SCaT
CI-SCaT pages developed by the NSW Cancer Institute. GPs can have access to protocols to deal with common side effects of chemotherapy