Precision Coordination: The Growing Role of the Nurse Coordinator in the Era of Personalized Medicine

Abstract

Personalized medicine is expected to positively change the treatment of cancer, but early identification of patients who are most likely to benefit requires an integrated effort from interprofessional care providers. Centering care around a patient's needs is the main task for a nurse coordinator, who is considered the core person for communication among all interprofessional care providers. This article describes a perspective on the nurse coordinator role as implemented in the lung cancer clinic at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. .

Understanding communication between patients and healthcare professionals regarding comprehensive biomarker testing in precision oncology: A scoping review

“…Integrating cBT into daily clinical practice will require oncologists to collaborate with other professions such as navigators, oncology nurses, geneticists, bioinformaticians, pathologists, laboratory personnel, and psychologists 7,55 . As exemplified by a single‐center study from Saudi Arabia, a nurse coordinator may support the treating oncologists by, for example, guiding the patients in their trajectory and coordinating patient referrals and cBT 62 . The roles of pathology experts and non‐specialist HCPs in supporting their patients during cBT‐related decision‐making were also suggested 52 .…”

The Care Coordinator’s Tasks During the Implementation of an Integrated Care Pathway for Older Patients: A Qualitative Study Based on the French National “Health Pathway of Seniors for Preserved Autonomy” Pilot Program

“…The literature on care coordination mainly covers projects coordinated by a nurse or another HCP, rather than the GP [8,11,14,15,18,19,29,[36][37][38]. Al-Kaiyat et al have shown that the nurse-coordinator's role is evolving [37].…”

“…The literature on care coordination mainly covers projects coordinated by a nurse or another HCP, rather than the GP [8,11,14,15,18,19,29,[36][37][38]. Al-Kaiyat et al have shown that the nurse-coordinator's role is evolving [37]. Furthermore, Parker et al analyzed the relationship between the nurse's coordination activities and the GP's actual role [38].…”

“…Furthermore, Parker et al analyzed the relationship between the nurse's coordination activities and the GP's actual role [38]. These studies have shown that (i) the CC is often a nurse, (ii) there may be a conflict of authority between the nurse and the GP, and (iii) care coordination may be viewed simply as the provision of support to GPs [37,38]. Our study gave new insights into care coordination because we studied a CC who was not an HCP.…”

The Advanced Practitioner’s Role in the Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Precision Medicine

“…They often obtain comprehensive individual and family health histories, which may identify risks that could signal the need for tumor or germline mutation testing, or the presence of comorbidities that might preclude the use of certain targeted therapies ( Fu et al, 2019 ). Advanced practitioners can also work with pathologists to ensure that biopsies obtained are adequate to perform all biomarker tests and are routed appropriately, and that results are promptly recorded in a database so this information can be accessed and evaluated by the oncologist or MTB ( Al-Kaiyat, 2018 ). Additionally, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants can collaborate with oncologists, pharmacists, and other members of the multidisciplinary heath-care team to coordinate care related to biomarker and pharmacogenomic results ( Figure 1 ).…”