“We as oncology nurses have to understand who is this patient, where do they come from, and who is going to touch that patient, so that we can provide comprehensive, good care without these barriers, or at least to eliminate as many of these barriers as much as we can,” ONS member Idalina Colburn, RN, OCN®, ONN-CG, nurse navigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a discussion about nursing care considerations for patients with developmental disabilities and cancer. You can earn free NCPD contact hours after listening to this episode and completing the evaluation linked below. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by March 3, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to caring for patients with developmental disabilities and cancer. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Colburn’s 44th Annual ONS Congress® ePoster: A Communication Tool to Assist With Coordination and Implementation of Cancer Care for Adults With Developmental Disabilities in Large Urban Medical Cancer Centers American Society of Clinical Oncology articles: Developmental Disabilities, COVID-19, and Cancer: Creating a Model of Flexible Comprehensive Care Autism and Cancer: Creating Comprehensive Solutions for Complex Needs Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities article: Are Researchers Addressing Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Among People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the U.S.? A Scoping Review Journal of Pain and Symptom Management article: Cancer Pain in People With Intellectual Disabilities: Systematic Review and Survey of Health Care Professionals Lancet Oncology article: Cancer Treatment Decision Making in Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: A Scoping Literature Review American Nurses Association book: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (third edition) Oncodefi Highlights From Today’s Episode “Barriers for these patients could be significant or mild. The barriers are directly related to the severity of the limitation of the individual. If you have a patient who presents with a cancer diagnosis for treatment and they have a developmental or intellectual disability, but they are pretty high functioning, the barriers that they present with may be very different than that patient who is really low functioning and severely impaired.” Timestamp (TS) 04:50 “We always have to consider how we assess and coordinate care for this patient population. It requires excellent coordination and communication with other providers who are caring for this patient. But mostly reaching out to the community, involving the family or the other caregivers. We as oncology nurses have to understand who is this patient, where do they come from, and who is going to touch that patient, so that we can provide comprehensive, good care without these barriers, or at least to eliminate as many of these barriers as much as we can.” TS 12:21 “The goal would be patient-centered, safe oncology care for every patient who hits your chair with a developmental disability. The idea behind it is that it uses a multidisciplinary approach to care. So, it utilizes the team, including your social workers, nursing assistance, navigators, really anyone who is going to touch that patient within the medical team, but also involves the family and those community caregivers, and government or