Local Practice Problem Exploration: Canceras We Have Chosen

Local Practice Problem Exploration Canceras We Have Chosen The Same

Local Practice Problem Exploration: Cancer. As we have chosen the same practice problem, to explore, I am curious how your facility (North Shore Medical Center, Miami, Florida) has planned to (or currently has implemented) becoming an Age-Friendly institution? Many of the interventions you described echo the "4 M" framework of the Age-Friendly Institution: Mentation, Mobility, Medications, and What Matters Most. How have institutions adapted to this framework in anticipation of the needs of cancer patients and survivors? How does cancer impact nurses, healthcare organizations, nursing care, and overall healthcare quality? What is the real impact on your community? What are the costs to your local community (Miami, Florida)?

Just as you sought out stakeholders at the national level, ongoing dialogue with stakeholders at the local level is critically important. Building relationships with formal and informal leaders facilitates collaboration necessary to focus on practice problems and translate evidence into practice. Key stakeholders include healthcare providers, patients and their families, community organizations, and policy makers. Understanding their perspectives provides insight into factors contributing to high cancer incidence and survivorship challenges in Miami. Various social determinants of health, such as socioeconomic status, access to care, and health literacy, contribute to the elevated cancer rates observed locally. Addressing these underlying issues requires coordinated efforts to improve prevention, early detection, and supportive care.

Implementation barriers such as resource limitations, resistance to change, and lack of tailored interventions hinder progress towards an age-friendly cancer care model. Engaging stakeholders early and fostering a culture of evidence-based practice are essential strategies for overcoming these challenges. Furthermore, translation science plays a pivotal role in embedding research findings into everyday clinical practice, thereby improving patient outcomes and reducing disparities (White, Dudley-Brown, & Terhaar, 2016). Understanding local community needs and fostering stakeholder engagement can help tailor interventions that are culturally appropriate and sustainable, ultimately reducing the burden of cancer and enhancing quality of care.

Paper For Above instruction

Transforming healthcare practices to meet the needs of aging populations, particularly cancer survivors, is critical in institutions such as North Shore Medical Center in Miami, Florida. The implementation of an Age-Friendly framework aligned with the "4 M" approach—Mentation, Mobility, Medications, and What Matters Most—serves as a strategic pathway to enhance quality of care for older adults with cancer. This approach necessitates a comprehensive understanding of how cancer impacts nurses, healthcare organizations, and the community at large, as well as the barriers to adopting best practices.

The "4 M" framework emphasizes mental health, physical mobility, medication safety, and aligning care with patient preferences. Institutions like North Shore Medical Center have begun integrating these elements by developing multidisciplinary teams focused on geriatric oncology, fostering collaboration among nurses, physicians, social workers, and community organizations. For instance, screening for cognitive impairments and offering mobility programs help address mentation and mobility, while medication reconciliation and deprescribing efforts target medication safety. Tailoring care plans to reflect patients' values and goals—what matters most—has been instrumental in improving patient engagement and satisfaction.

Cancer significantly impacts nurses and healthcare organizations, not only through increased complexity of care but also by demanding resource allocation for supportive services such as rehabilitation, palliative care, and psychosocial support. Nurses often serve as the frontline in identifying vulnerabilities and coordinating care, yet often face barriers like staffing shortages and insufficient training specific to geriatric oncology. These challenges can compromise overall healthcare quality, leading to disparities in outcomes among older patients. Moreover, the financial burden of cancer care, including hospitalizations, treatments, and supportive services, places considerable strain on the local community, emphasizing the importance of cost-effective interventions rooted in evidence-based practices.

Within Miami, Florida, a diverse and socioeconomically varied population faces unique challenges related to cancer prevention and survivorship. Elevated rates of late-stage diagnoses and disparities in access to care exemplify ongoing issues. The community's social determinants of health—such as poverty, limited health literacy, and transportation barriers—contribute to delayed diagnoses and suboptimal outcomes. Addressing these issues requires active stakeholder engagement, including healthcare providers, community leaders, policymakers, and patient advocacy groups. Collaborative efforts can facilitate targeted screening programs, community education initiatives, and enhanced access to supportive care services, ultimately reducing the community's cancer burden.

However, implementing change is hindered by various barriers. Resistance to practice change among staff, limited financial resources, and lack of culturally tailored interventions hinder progress. Engaging stakeholders in the planning and implementation phases fosters ownership and sustainability of interventions. Moreover, translation science—the discipline of integrating research evidence into clinical practice—can help overcome these barriers by providing systematic frameworks for change, promoting rapid adoption of proven strategies, and evaluating their effectiveness (White, Dudley-Brown, & Terhaar, 2016). This scientific approach ensures that interventions are contextually appropriate, feasible, and capable of leading to measurable improvements in patient outcomes.

In conclusion, transforming healthcare in Miami to become more age-friendly for cancer patients requires a multipronged approach anchored in stakeholder engagement, evidence-based practice, and culturally sensitive interventions. Overcoming barriers such as resource limitations and resistance to change is essential. By fostering collaboration across healthcare sectors and utilizing translation science, organizations can enhance care quality, improve outcomes for older adults with cancer, and reduce the community burden of disease.

References

• Burden of Disease Collaborators. (2018). The state of U.S. health, burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors among U.S. states. JAMA Network Open, 1(1), e180758.
• White, K. M., Dudley-Brown, S., & Terhaar, M. F. (2016). Translation of evidence into nursing and health care (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
• American Geriatrics Society. (2019). The 4 M's of age-friendly health systems. Retrieved from https://www.americangeriatrics.org
• Davies, B., & Hwang, P. (2020). Challenges in implementing age-friendly care for oncology patients: A review. Journal of Geriatric Oncology, 11(4), 543–550.
• Perkins, S. M., & Hurria, A. (2018). Geriatric assessment in oncology: A review. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(21), 2201–2207.
• Bridges, J. F. et al. (2017). Stakeholder engagement in oncology care: A framework for success. Care Management Journals, 18(2), 83–89.
• Chung, M. L., et al. (2019). Barriers and facilitators to implementing age-friendly oncology practices. Oncology Nursing Forum, 46(2), 189–197.
• Im, E. (2020). Community engagement strategies to address health disparities in Miami. Public Health Reports, 135(3), 350–358.
• Haas, J., & Delaney, B. (2021). Translating evidence into practice: Strategies for health systems. Implementation Science, 16(1), 24.
• National Institute on Aging. (2017). Strategies to improve healthcare for older adults. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov