Lung and Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Edge posted this recent information (copied below) in support of lung and pancreatic cancer month at http://www.onsedge.com/news/onsedge_lung_pancreatic/:

We want to thank all oncology nurses for their dedication to their profession and their patients.
Lung Cancer Resources for Patients*:

• Lungcancer.org
• National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health: What You Need to Know About™: Lung Cancer
• MedlinePlus: Lung Cancer
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Lung Cancer
• American Cancer Society: Lung Cancer

* ONS:Edge is not affiliated with these organizations.
Lung Cancer Resources for Nurses:

• Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) book: Site-Specific Cancer Series: Lung Cancer
• ONS Site-Specific Cancer Series: Lung Cancer Online Course
• ONS’s Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: The Challenge of Existential Issues in Acute Care: Nursing Considerations for the Patient With a New Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer Resources for Patients*:

• Pancreatic Cancer Action Network®
• National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health: What You Need to Know About™: Cancer of the Pancreas
• MedlinePlus: Pancreatic Cancer
• American Cancer Society: Pancreatic Cancer

* ONS:Edge is not affiliated with these organizations.
Pancreatic Cancer Resources for Nurses:

• Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) book: Site-Specific Cancer Series: Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Cancers

Back Home From India - Initial Observations

I returned home from an 11 day stay in India on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day in the United States).  I learned so much!  First of all, India has an edge on use of technology!  There were over 5,000 people who attended the Indian Cancer Congress 2013 in New Delhi.  The WiFi coverage was outstanding in spite of the numbers of people using it.  The Kempinski hotel had many backup generators to compensate for frequent electrical brownouts.  I always had a WiFi connection. 

The traffic was unbelievable.  The car drivers were amazing in their ability to negotiate travel with so many types of vehicles on the road.  I certainly would never be able to drive anywhere in India!

The poverty in New Delhi was tragic.  There were so many people living in downtown area on the street and in tents on the side of the road.  There was a stark difference between New Delhi and Kochi.  Although the homeless probably exists, I did not see any evidence of the homeless problem in Kochi. 

There is much opportunity for India to leverage the use of prevention strategies to improve their health.  There are no widespread screening mammogram programs available.  Many of the areas in India do not have mammogram technology nor physicians who are qualified to read the results.  Routine dental care is not available to the mass population.  The top three types of cancer are head and neck, breast, and cervical. 

Head and neck is due to tobacco use.  In addition to the types of tobacco used in the United States, many Indians use ground betel nut as their chewing tobacco.   Betel nut is very carcinogenic!  To compound things, when routine dental care is not used, the head and neck cancers are discovered in the advanced stages.

Breast cancers are commonly no identified until they are stage 3 or 4.  To many, the word "cancer" means death because of the late diagnosis.  Breast conservation surgery is not available in many areas of India because radiation therapy is not available.

Cervical cancer screening is not readily available.  As a result, the cancer is not identified when it can be cured. 

Google - Two Factor Authentication (Two-step Verification)

If you have been following my blog recently, you know that I am in India now.  I thought that I had changed all of my accounts to invoke enough security, but NOT!  My Facebook account was hacked yesterday.  The hacker did not spell my name correctly and from what my friends have shared, had poor writing skills.  I was able to create two-factor authentication for the account this morning and have added a new level of security.  Of course, it also meant changing the email passwords for other accounts.  I have written about the importance of two-factor authentication before, but the Google video from YouTube below explains additional information.  Hope that you find it helpful.

Indian Cancer Congress Update - Friday

Today is the second day of the Indian Cancer Congress.  Met many gracious physicians and nurses yesterday.  I look forward to learning even more.  One of the sessions where I participated as a panelist was a Psycho Oncology session on "How to Give Bad News."  The discussion continued to help me to understand the importance and challenges of family members in relationship to cancer.  The senior male in the family is often the person who makes decisions.  That person may instruct the physician not to tell the patient about the cancer diagnosis.  One of the physicians said that he is very honest about the type and extent of the surgery with the patient but may not mention "cancer" as the reason for the surgery.

In another session, a physician discussed genetics and cancer.  She indicated that some families see cancer as a curse to their blood line.  My friend, Savitri, is doing research on the psychosocial aspects of cancer in the Asian population. Interesting information.

 I plan to incorporate information about what I learned into the legal and ethical issues course.

Indian Cancer Congress Update - New Delhi, India

Today is the second day of the Indian Cancer Congress here in New Delhi. I had three presentations yesterday and one today.  I am so impressed with the organization and quality of all of the presentations.  Everything is first class!  I will post some pictures after transferring them from my iPhone.  I look forward to making a palliative care home visit an hour from now following by a visit to a palliative care clinic.  I am learning so much and cannot wait to have the opportunity to share with Georgia College nursing students.

Free Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Mobile Health Library App for iOS and Android Mobile Devices

The free app, Mobile Health Library, is available for the iPhone, Android smartphone, and tablet devices.  The information on the app is copied/pasted from the Oncology Nursing Society news feed below. The app will be particularly useful to nurses involved with cancer care.



POWERFUL, PORTABLE, PRACTICAL
Access the resources you need whenever and wherever you need them.
Mobile Health Library (MHL) is a powerful and versatile app for smartphone or tablet. With MHL, you will have access to patient education materials, interactive videos, and much more, all in one convenient, easy-to-use place. ONS:Edge is committed to delivering innovative tools, such as MHL, to support the oncology nursing community in its effort to advance the care of patients. Now, you can put the power of MHL into practice.
ONS:Edge Nurse Resource Center provides access to clinical and education information to complement your patient care:

• ONS:Edge client services
• ONS:Edge programs
• ONS:Edge nurse resources
• Oncology news
• Useful links

How to Download Mobile Health Library
You are just a few steps away from accessing the power of MHL.

1. Depending upon your mobile device, go to the iTunes® or Google Play® stores, search for “Mobile Health Library,” and download the free app.
2. Once the app is downloaded, launch it.
3. You will be prompted on the “Terms & Conditions” page. Press “Accept.”
4. Press the middle button on the home screen (“Enter App Code”) and enter ONSE (not case sensitive).

iTunes is a registered trademark of Apple Inc., and Google Play is a registered trademark of Google Inc.

Greetings from New Delhi, India

Greetings from New Delhi, India.  I am here for the Indian Cancer Congress (ICC), which begins in the morning.  My nursing colleague, Savitri, and I have two appointment to meet with Indian nursing colleagues today.  We look forward to meeting others at the ICC pre-conference for nurses tomorrow. 

We are continuing to develop the Indian Cancer Portal at http://oercindia.merlot.org.  Your contribution and suggestions to improve the website are welcome. 

Word Processing Self-Assessment

Self-Assess your word processing skills. Click in the cell for the column Rate Yourself.
Enter the numbers 0-4. The highest score possible is 248.

• 0 - No skill 
• 1 - Able to do with assistance 
• 2 - Competent working independently 
• 3 - Advanced competency 
• 4 - Expert, can teach others

APA Template for Google Docs

I created an APA template for Google Docs.  You should be able to view it at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ALBZqImAIxs-x6WIQJ8GzV8XRgBK0JKngqUgqOyz5WQ/edit?usp=sharing

The limitation, of Google Docs, as noted in the previous blog, is formatting the page header.  In Google Docs, the page header is the same for all pages.  With APA 6th style, the word Running head are uses only for the title page.  The words do not appear on subsequent pages. 

APA Templates for Word Processors (Mac - Pages & Word, OpenOffice, Google Drive Docs)

If you need to write a paper that uses APA 6th style, consider beginning with a pre-designed template. Remember that you must use the APA manual to verify that the template is designed correctly.

You can also configure the word processor by editing the default style. Any well-designed template can save lots of time, so that you can concentrate on the document content.

• Apple iWork Pages - http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2010/10/28/apa-6th-edition-paper-template-for-apple-pages-iwork/
  Note: Do not worry about saving the template with the other Pages templates.  After you have saved it, for example in the Documents folder, it will be available from your pick list to open.

• Microsoft Word for the Mac - use the same website as noted for Apple iWork Pages.  

• Apache OpenOffice - http://templates.openoffice.org/en/template/apa-6th-edition-paper-template-1
  Note: There are a couple of errors on the template that are easily corrected.  First the title page does not show a course name, instructor, or due date.  It should show the title of the paper, the author name, and the institutional affiliation (APA, 2011, p. 23).
  The first paragraph of the abstract should NOT be indented.
  
  The paragraph headings need to be edited.  See page 62 of the APA manual.

• Google Drive Docs - there are many templates, but I was unable to locate one correct formatting.  One of the limitations of Google Docs is that the page header is the same for all pages. 

MERLOT OERC (Open Education Resources for Cancer) Portal in Development - OERC India

MERLOT is partnering with physicians and nurses in the country of India to develop a portal for cancer resources.  The website, still in development, is online at http://oercindia.merlot.org/index.html

I and several of my colleagues representing OERC will participate in the Indian Cancer Congress 2013 from November 20-24. As of today,  2700 attendees who have signed up for the Congress. On November 20, I will provide a pre-conference 90 minute hands-on workshop on the MERLOT OERC India portal.  I will also participate in two of the nursing oncology pre-conference sessions.

I look forward to meeting representatives from the Ministry of Health, nursing faculty, and students during the stay in New Delhi.  

There will be have a table at the conference to share information about MERLOT, OERC, and INCTR (International Network for Cancer Training and Research).

If any of the readers for this blog are interested in MERLOT or cancer and open education resources or OERC India, please:

• Join MERLOT
• Search for learning resources
• Contribute new learning resources
• Create Personal Collections
• Make comments about learning resources

APA Style Guide to Electronic References

If you are writing a paper that has references to websites, you might find the Publication Manual of the America Psychological Association (APA) does not provide the information you need.  APA published an electronic book, APA Style Guide to Electronic References, to address the need.  There is a Kindle version of the eBook at Amazon.  The cost ranges from $9.26 to $11.95. The eBook includes lots of examples for Facebook, Tweets, online PowerPoint slides, and more.  You can use electronic bookmarks and search the book. 

PS - There is also a Kindle version for the Publication Manual of the America Psychological Association. 

Use of Health Apps by Healthcare Consumers

NPR News, The Long List of Health Apps Features Few Clear Winners by Nancy Shute,  reports that although there are 16,257 health apps, but laypersons are not taking an advantage of them.  The most popular are calorie counters and fitness apps.  My FitnessPal is an example.  I have the app, but need to use it. 

It was interesting to read that there are 558 apps for mental health.  Mental health was the most popular topic. 

I suggest that many healthcare providers are not award of apps that might empower healthcare consumers.  I have a learning exercise in one of the courses I teach where students search for apps related to their nursing specialty. Students often share that they were surprised about the availability.  Healthcare providers should evaluate the quality of apps in order to assist patients and families.

You can read more at:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/30/241852598/the-long-list-of-health-apps-features-few-clear-winners#!