JOP Discussion and Analysis in Short Blog: A Platform for Discussing Care Delivery Research, Policy

Nov 07, 2018

By Alex Carolan, ASCO Publishing

Earlier this year, the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) launched a blog, Discussion and Analysis in Short (JOP DAiS), as a platform for oncology professionals to discuss breakthroughs in care delivery.

Three editors oversee the blog content and contribute posts: Heather Hylton, PA-C, and Robert Daly, MD, MBA, both of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Steve Y. Lee, MD, of the NYU School of Medicine.

As a blog, JOP DAiS takes a different approach to content than the journal itself: the posts are not peer-reviewed, and authors discuss the issues through the lens of their personal opinions. Guest authors are welcome to submit their own posts, which may be written in response to specific articles published in JOP, or can address timely topics in the world of oncology care delivery.

JOP DAiS enriches content from JOP by encouraging reduced barrier-to-entry contributions by practicing oncologists who may not ordinarily be invited to write commentaries on academic manuscripts—and may open up new areas for discussion,” Dr. Lee said.

Understanding that health care professionals are busy, posts on JOP DAiS are short and to the point. Writers deconstruct complicated issues on care delivery and policy to make them more accessible and allow for conversation, Ms. Hylton said.

“No one has a lot of time to devote to understanding some of these very complex issues, so if someone can put this into a digestible form, that helps you understand why [you] should care,” she said.

The blog covers a variety of topics, many of which have arisen organically from the experiences and interests of the editors.

For example, during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, Ms. Hylton said she noticed attendees discussing professional burnout. As a result, she wrote a post on “The Uncomfortable Truth: The Burnout Epidemic and Our Cancer Care Teams” to encourage further discussion of this important topic from a team-based perspective.

“If you have an overarching issue for the team, it needs to be addressed for all members of the team,” Ms. Hylton said. “If you address burnout on an individual basis rather than focusing on team well-being, it will be challenging to achieve a desirable outcome for the team as a whole.”

Among the variety of topics covered, Ms. Hylton said, the blog will continue to deliver commentary and discussion on current issues in care delivery and policy. “Part of the goal is to really hit on what’s hot—what’s important in this moment,” she said.

Some of Dr. Lee’s initial posts discuss 340b reform and the challenge of external pressures to reduce utilization in an era of revolutionary, but costly, therapeutic strategies. Dr. Daly’s first post, “Why did Roche pay $2B for an oncology healthcare start-up and what does it mean for oncologists?” breaks down Roche’s acquisition of Flatiron Health in plain language.

“I hope [JOP DAiS] will be a place where those interested in care delivery can discuss ideas, a place where those ideas can be used to generate academic papers, care delivery trials, [and] influence policy,” Dr. Daly said.

Visit jopblog.org to read the latest posts on JOP DAiS and learn more about the editors. To inquire about submitting your own guest post to the blog, email jopcontact@asco.org.


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