Head & Neck Cancer

Improving the care of people with head and neck cancer: new video series

edited by Melissa Sweet, Croakey, 4 August 2020

Five priority areas to improve the treatment and lives of people with head and neck cancers are highlighted in a unique new video series, reports journalist and cancer survivor Julie McCrossin.

The videos also share the stories and questions of survivors, and “tell the blunt truth about how the Australian and New Zealand health systems are failing to meet the life-long needs of the survivors of this dreadful group of cancers”.

Julie McCrossin writes:

On World Head Neck Cancer Day, 27 July 2020, a unique series of 14 videos on innovations in the treatment of head and neck cancer patients was launched on multiple social media platforms. The final five videos in the series will be released this week.

The focus of each video is on the clinical practice of multidisciplinary team members and researchers to improve survival and quality of life. The videos are designed to give the latest evidence-based information to patients, family members and clinicians through interviews with people on the frontline of healthcare.

The interviews are filmed in the workplace. We meet a surgeon, nurse and speech pathologist in an operating theatre beside a surgical robot. We meet a radiation oncologist, dietician and another speech pathologist in a bunker beside a LINAC, the machine that delivers radiation therapy. We meet a special needs dentist and ENT nurse in a... read more

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