The purpose of this project is to identify the most appropriate physical distress screening tools that will assist clinicians in determining when a referral is indicated for wellness and/or rehabilitation services in outpatient cancer care facilities. This project will also identify appropriate outcome measures to help determine when oncology rehabilitation referral is indicated in outpatient cancer survivors.

The  project  will  create  three  video  narratives  with  case  studies  and  corresponding  facilitator  notes  focused  on  cancer--‐related  pain  and  its  treatment.  Teams  of  undergraduate  students  will  collaborate  with  faculty  members  and  health  care  professionals  to  interview  patients  experiencing  cancer--‐related  pain.  These  materials  will  be  crafted  with  the  intent  of  training  future  practitioners  to  become  better  prepared  for  the  challenges  of  preventing  and  managing  cancer--‐  related  pain.  The  importance  of  an  interprofessional  team  approach  throughout  treatment  will  be  an  essential  component  of  the  training  experience,  as  well  as  the  osteopathic  philosophies  around  holistic  medicine  that  is  centered  on  the  individual  “patient”.    

This literature review project will study current understanding and management of the dental needs for patients under oncology treatment, such as mucositis, rampant caries, xerostomia, trismus, during/after radiotherapy/chemotherapy, as well as how interprofessional health care providers provide support for oral hygiene maintenance and rehabilitation. The team will prepare a manuscript entitled, "The current dental and interprofessional management of geriatric patients undergoing head and neck cancer treatment in nursing homes in the US: Literature review," which consists of 5 sections.