I am grateful to have been awarded the CAPhO Pharmacist Travel Grant, providing me with the opportunity to attend my first ever CAPhO conference. As a recent PharmD graduate entering oncology practice, I recognize that the content covered in pharmacy school is only the tip of the iceberg in caring for patients with cancer. Participation in the conference allowed me to learn from experts in the field about various topics for which the majority were directly related to my everyday practice.
What stood out to me about the CAPhO conference in comparison to other conferences I have attended was that the programming not only provided detailed education but also included application-based learning and focused on the role of the pharmacist in optimizing patient care. For example, during the Lilly Sponsored Symposium – Beyond the Basics Strategies for Counseling and Managing Adverse Events Associated with Adjuvant CDK4/6 Inhibitor Therapy, the multi-disciplinary panel highlighted opportunities to optimize care for patients with early breast cancer prescribed CDK4/6 inhibitors. The panel provided their insights on the importance of open discussions surrounding topics like sexual health, symptom management strategies and opportunities for interprofessional collaboration. By attending symposiums such as this, I am driven to better care for patients with enhanced knowledge gained, new strategies to implement and how to better collaborate with the oncology care team.
I also valued learning about newly developed tools and resources that were shared throughout the conference, many of which I plan to utilize within my pharmacy practice. For example, patient education resources on combination immunotherapy (IO) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were presented. I immediately recognized these resources as being beneficial for patients in understanding the roles both medication classes play in their cancer treatment. Additionally, these resources will be helpful for patients to identify toxicities which are related to IO, TKIs or can overlap between the two.
Also, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to each of the plenary sessions. Françoise Mathieu fabulously presented the conference’s opening plenary, The Edge of Compassion: Staying Well While Working in Oncology. Her presentation stuck with me as she illustrated the many factors which can contribute to work-related stress, many of which I had not thought of previously. I left this session, as I’m sure did many others, with a new toolbox of strategies to practice compassion and daily re-setting.
Notably, I had the pleasure to participate in the Oral Chemotherapy Management (OCM) workshop which was my highlight of the conference. During the OCM workshop, attendees worked in small groups to identify strategies to manage toxicities associated with oral anti-cancer medications and discussed the role of the pharmacist in caring for patients prescribed these medications. This was a great experience as I was able to apply my current knowledge, utilize resources to answer questions and participate in discussion with others on how they manage toxicities in their practice. The workshop facilitators provided detailed responses to the case questions and shared their lived experiences which helped to solidify my learning.
Overall, I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to attend the CAPhO 2024 conference. The educational sessions were informative, interactive, and left me with meaningful takeaways on how I can enhance patient care as an oncology pharmacist. I also valued the chance to network with other pharmacists in the field, connecting over shared experiences and brainstorming ideas to improve our own practices. I left the CAPhO conference motivated to advocate for the role of oncology pharmacists in providing exceptional care for patients with cancer. I look forward to attending many more CAPhO conferences in the future.