For Immediate Release
April 30, 2009

BUFFALO, NY – Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) patients are a high-risk patient group who, during lengthy hospital stays, often develop close personal relationships with their primary care team. The Department of Nursing at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) created a BMT Task Force to offer compassionate support services to the healthcare team as the team supports patients and their families at the end of life.

Lisa Privitere, RN, OCN, Department of Nursing at RPCI, will present “End of Life Task Force for the Bone Marrow Transplant Program” at the Annual Congress of the Oncology Nursing Society, April 30 – May 3 in San Antonio, TX.

All members of the BMT healthcare team are invited to attend monthly Task Force meetings. The Task Force provides compassionate support to the clinical team members, assists with the development of healthy coping skills when caring for patients facing the end of their lives, offers the opportunity to discuss high-risk patients, and provides training in skills required to recognize the need to initiate palliative patient care.

“The high level of participation by the BMT healthcare team demonstrates how much the intervention was needed. The Task Force also has helped our physician colleagues develop a greater appreciation of the impact that caring for high-risk patients has on the healthcare team,” said Privitere.

Nurse collaborators on this Roswell Park paper were Rose Kumpf, RN; Lise Hernandez, RN, BSN, CHTC, CCRC; Joyce Yasko, PhD; and Susan Spinuzza, RN.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center. The Institute was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit RPCI’s website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or email askrpci@roswellpark.org.

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