November 2014 John Weeks Integrator Round-Up: Resources

by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports

Society for Integrative Oncology Publishes Practice Guidelines/Report Care for Integrative Breast Cancer Therapies

The president of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, sent news that SIO has had published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute its Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Use of Integrative Therapies as Supportive Care in Patients Treated for Breast Cancer. Greenlee wished it known that the “guidelines are now live and are freely accessible” via full-text, at the link above, and as a PDF here.  The widely reported publication of the guidelines was in part due to the decision of the SIO team to rank the evidence for various therapies. For instance, according to the abstract:

by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports

Society for Integrative Oncology Publishes Practice Guidelines/Report Care for Integrative Breast Cancer Therapies

The president of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, sent news that SIO has had published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute its Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Use of Integrative Therapies as Supportive Care in Patients Treated for Breast Cancer. Greenlee wished it known that the “guidelines are now live and are freely accessible” via full-text, at the link above, and as a PDF here.  The widely reported publication of the guidelines was in part due to the decision of the SIO team to rank the evidence for various therapies. For instance, according to the abstract:

“Meditation, yoga, and relaxation with imagery are recommended for routine use for common conditions, including anxiety and mood disorders (Grade A). Stress management, yoga, massage, music therapy, energy conservation, and meditation are recommended for stress reduction, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life (Grade B).”

In addition, 32 other types of interventions had weaker evidence of benefit (Grade C), 7 were deemed unlikely to provide any benefit (Grade D) and just only one intervention, acetyl-l-carnitine for the prevention of taxane-induced neuropathy, was identified as likely harmful (Grade H) as it was found to increase neuropathy. Still, 138 majority interventions or modality combinations were found to not have sufficient evidence to form specific recommendations (Grade I). Said lead author Greenlee: “The SIO is very pleased to present this important resource for clinicians, patients and researchers.”

Comment from Integrator adviser Glenn Sabin (a former SIO board member): Sabin sent out the following comments with this excited post on the date of the long-awaited publication: “Given that over 75% of breast cancer patients currently use complementary therapies following diagnosis, these highly effective clinical guidelines offer medical oncologists, physicians and practitioners across disciplines, and, just as importantly, patients and caregivers, an extremely useful tool. Now, virtually any private practice oncologist, hospital or health system—especially those with minimal experience discussing or recommending integrative cancer therapies—should feel quite comfortable and confident in the quality and ratings of these core evidence-based modalities. Congratulations to SIO and the team of researchers, evaluators and collaborating institutions for developing such a timely set of clinical guidelines rendering valuable support to millions of breast cancer patients through their cancer care journey.”

 

CAHCIM and SIO Team Up to Publish Monograph on Integrative Cancer Care via NCI’s Journal

The Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine partnered with the Society for Integrative Oncology and four healthcare delivery organizations to publish a monograph entitled “The Role of Integrative Oncology for Cancer Survivorship” for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). The monograph highlights research in the field of integrative medicine for cancer as presented in 16 peer-reviewed articles. In a media release, Lorenzo Cohen, PhD, director of integrative medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and co-editor of the JNCI monograph states: “Integrative oncology is an emerging field with a lot to offer patients to help improve outcomes. It is incumbent upon us as scientists and practitioners to determine what will help improve clinical outcomes and what may interfere. The JNCI monograph is a step in the right direction and a catalyst for more high quality research in integrative oncology to speed our quest to prevent and control cancer.” The partners are the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Allina Health, Beth Israel Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Jun Mao, MD, of Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is the co-editor.

 

New Text on Integrative Nurse Coaching by Dossey-Luck-Shaub Trio

The trio of activists and educators promoting nurses as a core workforce in health coaching, Barbara Dossey, PhD, HN-BC, Susan Luck, RN, BS, MA, HWN-BC and Bonney Schaub, RN, MS have published Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing. In a note to the Integrator, Dossey shared that “our model includes health advocacy and health policy. A January 2014 webinar with Dossey and Luck on nurse coaching is available here via Integrative Practitioner. The book is published via the International Nurse Coach Association. The book advances work steadily developed and promoted since 2010 by the 3 long-time holistic and integrative nursing leaders.

 

Integrator Editor John Weeks Offers Daily News via Center for Optimal Integration: Creating Health and ACCAHC Facebook Pages 

In an October 19, 2014 note to subscribers to the Integrator Blog News and Reports, editor-publisher John Weeks announced that he has begun a regular, nearly daily service of posting integrative health and medicine news via the Facebook pages of two sites. For clinical, policy, and system developments he is posting via the Facebook at Center for Optimal Integration: Creating Health and for education, academic and research-related, he is posting via Facebook at ACCAHC. Each site is linked to the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), with which Weeks is in a leadership role.

Comment: I have found this an enjoyable daily practice – less than blogging but room for a comment or two and a relevant link. Hope some of you might find this useful.