Examining Shared Decision-Making in Bladder Cancer Care

Bladder cancer cases continue to rise regardless of treatment advances. In addition, disparities in bladder cancer persist, especially with respect to race. There is a documented connection between patient demographics and the impact on health outcomes. ACCC launched the Addressing Disparities in Bladder Cancer Care project to help cancer centers apply evidence-based health literacy and shared decision-making principles and strategies to reduce disparities in bladder cancer care.

CANCER BUZZ spoke to Mary W. Dunn, MSN, RN, OCN, NP-C, Adult Nurse Practitioner of Urology and Medical Oncology at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Samuel L. Washington III, MD, MAS, Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of California in San Francisco, California. Listen as we discuss best practices in health literacy, shared decision-making for bladder cancer care, disparities experienced by female patients, and educational resources being developed through the Addressing Disparities in Bladder Cancer Care initiative.

“Phase 1 analysis of the Bladder Cancer Care Initiative found major gaps in guideline concordant care of all bladder cancer patients, particularly populations that are already facing disparities.”

Samuel L. Washington III

“I think when you're dealing with something that is as delicate and difficult and potentially traumatic as a cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment, ensuring that the patient knows that their voice matters in the treatment decision making process is huge, and incorporating their goals of care…”

Mary W. Dunn

“When it comes to effective health literacy practices, the first step is really understanding the difference between literacy (how comfortable people are at reading and their reading level) and health literacy, which is almost a separate language of medical jargon and terms. These terms do not correlate or aren’t a 1 to 1 equivalent comparison.”             

Samuel L. Washington III

Mary W. Dunn, MSN, RN, OCN, NP-C

Adult Nurse Practitioner, Urology and Medical Oncology

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Chapel Hill, NC

Samuel L. Washington III, MD, MAS

Assistant Professor of Urology

University of California

San Francisco, CA

Resources:

CancerCare’s shared decision making tool - “What Matters to Me”

Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network’s (BCAN) - Treatment Matrix

Cancer Support Community

ACCC Health Literacy and Clear Communication eCourse

AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit

This project is supported by EMD Serono and Pfizer.