Kathleen Madden on the Importance of Patient Education

Kathleen Madden, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, Oncology, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the importance of properly educating patients who are receiving the immunotherapy ipilimumab (Yervoy) about the unique side effects that may occur and the importance of communicating these side effects to their treatment team.

Madden notes that patient education, open communication, honesty, and kindness are extremely important for patient care. In many cases, the side effects one patient experiences will not be the same as another, which needs to be communicated to the patient.

Patients need to be aware that they have a role and responsibility to actively partake in their treatment by participating and communicating with their treatment team, Madden says. This is especially important with the therapy ipilimumab because many of the adverse events can affect other organs, requiring a very large multidisciplinary team, which may delay communication and make proper symptom management more difficult.