Key points from today’s guests:

Teri Banman, R.N., director, Nurse Navigation, The University of Kansas Health System.

• A nurse navigator is a nursing expert in a particular type of cancer diagnosis or disease group of cancers.
• We're there to help decrease that time from diagnosis to treatment.
• When a patient is referred to The University of Kansas Hospital Cancer Center, they're connected to a nurse navigator who talks to the patient on the phone and collects the story to provide a personalized plan for coordinated care.
• The navigator is so important at the beginning stages to get the patient on the right path, but then it really is a whole team of nurses and providers that come together to really support the patients all the way through.
• There's multiple different specialties that are involved in the care of a cancer patient -- a medical oncologist who would prescribe the chemotherapy or immunotherapy, a surgeon a radiation oncologist, and then even other specialties like pulmonary, GI, and more.
• When a patient is told about a diagnosis, they may not realize what the next steps are and that’s why we are here.

Jason Spreitzer, oral cancer survivor

• Everything is chaotic in that first diagnosis -- adrenaline is going and you're really trying to figure out how to how to move in what direction and what you're going to do.
• I was immediately connected with this amazing nurse navigator, Ronda, and to hear that she was there to help me was so reassuring.
• As a firefighter, we do that with our patients, but being on the receiving end, it was unbelievable.
• She was a calming voice when everything was so chaotic.
• When you are focused on trying to get better, know that you don't have to be alone. Don't ever be alone. There's always plenty of help for you here.

Ronda Westerheid, R.N., nurse navigator, Head and Neck Cancer, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• Nurse navigators who specialize in certain cancers are important because of their advanced knowledge and in-depth care of that disease group.
• You need that for the coordination of the care and it just develops confidence for the patient to determine what the treatment options are and how to coordinate the care appropriately.
• There are “tumor boards,” which is a conference of medical oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, and pathologists who convene to actually look at the patient’s cancer tissue and diagnose the tissue under a microscope.
• We have radiologists who puts the pictures of the cancer up on the screen and everybody can look at it together and the nurse navigator is a big part of that conference, so we can make sure that everything is available for the physicians to have a meaningful discussion about the patient.
• We have a designated group of caring navigators and we're here for you. We're going to move the path forward for you and get you teed up taken care of.

Sara Grigery, R.N., nurse navigator, Proton Therapy, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• I primarily navigate pediatric patients that need radiation.
• It's multi-modality, so while they need radiation, they still need to be working with their oncologist, their surgeon, and many other providers that are outside of KU.
• It's a large collaboration and I serve as the bridge between all those doctors to make sure that the nurse here that's caring for them daily understands that everything is still being collaborated and cared for.
• Everything can really be overwhelming to families to learn, so I help them through the process.
• I always encourage family to keep asking questions. I want them to feel confident about all of their treatment decisions and I ask them to keep my contact information because your questions might come a little later and I want to be there for them whenever I can.

Monday, June 24 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Bullets leave scars, both physical and emotional. Hear more about the public health approach to gun violence, including what a trauma surgeon sees on an all too frequent basis. Also learn more about the program that supports victims while they're still in the hospital.

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