New Immuno-oncology Education Helps Position Pathologists and Laboratory Professionals As Leaders of the Cancer Care Team

ASCP has taken a leadership role in developing education so that pathologists and laboratory professionals are current in the rapidly exploding area of immuno-oncology (IO) to treat cancer patients. Since 2016, ASCP has partnered with Q Synthesis to implement its IO education through a series of innovative quality improvement projects in community hospitals nationwide.

From this experience, the ASCP IO Work Group has developed a Virtual Cancer Committee education module, launching in mid-February, to demonstrate to pathologists and laboratory professionals how they can play a role in their own institution’s cancer committee. The module touches on practical issues that a community-based cancer center might encounter, ranging from topics affecting the clinical and administrative perspectives to focusing on identification and management of immune-related adverse events.

“The first content area examines biomarker testing from clinical and administrative perspectives,” explains Joseph Kim, MD, of Q Synthesis. “The second content area focuses on treatment-related adverse events so that, when patients are treated with the different drugs, pathologists and laboratory professionals are aware of all the possible reactions that could occur,” he adds.

The ASCP IO Work Group recruited a multidisciplinary team to participate in the development of the education module, including a pathologist, a radiation oncologist and a nurse who is a service line director with both a clinical role and an administrative role, all from Southside Regional Cancer Center, in Petersburg Virginia.

The module will follow a typical cancer committee meeting agenda. The cancer committee will be tasked with developing a set of clinical and programmatic goals around the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors: clinical goals involving the diagnosis, treatment, services and care of the cancer program’s patients.

During the presentation, discussions will lead to group consensus, further discussion, postponement of ideas or other potential outcomes. Topics will include the evolving role of IO biomarker testing: test selection, patient criteria, interpretation of results, and considerations regarding treatment-related adverse events.

Participants will assess how different interventions may lead to improved patient care. They will also assess the role for process changes, systems-level quality improvement projects, clinical education or other team-based interventions. Participants will assess the application of communication and adaptive leadership skills as they face complex challenges around IO biomarker testing and the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer.

“I would hope this education module will motivate pathologists and laboratory professionals to use this as a framework and to see opportunities to participate in cancer committees at their own institutions,” Dr. Kim says.

Learn more about the ASCP Virtual Cancer Committee by clicking here.

Learn more about IO education on the ASCP Website at www.ascp.org/immuno-oncology.