Cancer is one of the diseases with the highest morbidity rates, although evidence does indicate that early detection improves the chances of survival for the patient ( Málaga, Cuba-Fuentes & Romero-Albino, 2018 ). This essay will discuss some of the community resources for cancer patients, and how stakeholders can ensure information collection and sharing is streamlined.
According to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, there are four significant community resource alternatives for breast cancer patients. These resources may be in the form of organizations, advocacy groups, support programs and services, and financial resources. Organizations offer diverse programs that breast cancer patients can benefit from and include organizations such as the Susan Komen Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Advocacy groups are excellent sources of information for patients and also help patients such as with legal cases, and include groups such as the National Breast Cancer Coalition and The Patient Advocate Foundation (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, 2015). Support groups also help cancer patients in whatever way possible, for example, Cancer Care offers patients free professional help on any matter related to cancer. Finally, community resources may be in the form of financial resources, and such groups help cancer patients in making financial decisions and managing their disease from an economic perspective and include groups such as the Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, 2015).
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For healthcare managers and certified medical administrative assistants (CMAAs), gathering and sharing such information should be streamlined for the benefit of patients. In collecting such information, the first step is to conduct thorough research, both online and physically by ensuring the organizations that claim to offer cancer resources are true to their purpose. This step will also involve mapping these resources to enable patients to reach them quickly. The second step is to organize this information in a manner that is clear and easy to understand, which can be in any form of presentation ranging from brochures to powerpoint presentations. As a move towards ensuring constant updating of the information, healthcare managers and CMAAs can put in place a timeline after which another research is conducted and the results updated.
Through constant collection and updating of information, cancer patients can have information on the community resources available to them. Such actions will not only improve early detection but also decrease morbidity by giving patients and their caregivers the necessary information to live better lives while undergoing treatment.
References
Málaga, G., Cuba-Fuentes, S., & Romero-Albino, Z. (2018). Implementation of a community-based breast cancer management programme. The Lancet Oncology , 19 (1), e3.
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. (2015). “Breast Cancer Resources.” Online resource, retrieved from https://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/_Komen/Content/About_Breast_Cancer/Tools_and_Resources/Fact_Sheets_and_Breast_Self_Awareness_Cards/BreastCancerResources.pdf
