Feb 23, 2012
ASCO’s patient website, Cancer.Net, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this spring. Designed to provide people with cancer and their families and friends with timely, oncologist-approved cancer information, Cancer.Net continues to lead the way in content, design, and interactivity.
The site first launched in May 2002 as “People Living With Cancer,” with the primary goal of providing ASCO members with a reliable, trustworthy website where they could send their patients. A key strength of the website that continues today is the high-quality content review process, led by the Cancer.Net Editorial Board comprising 150 medical, surgical, radiation, and pediatric oncologists; oncology nurses; physician assistants; social workers; and patient advocates. The frequent, high-level review of Cancer.Net’s content allows it to stand out among the sea of cancer websites.
Cancer.Net has received numerous honors, including seven awards from the Web Marketing Association WebAwards program.
As technology and progress in cancer research and treatment has evolved, so has Cancer.Net. The site not only has increased its depth and range of topics but also its interactivity. Highlights include:
Guides to Cancer: The site initially offered detailed sections on 22 different types of cancer. Now, visitors can read about more than 120 types of cancer and cancer-related syndromes at cancer.net/cancer.
Focus on Other Aspects of Cancer Care: To help patients cope with all aspects of a cancer diagnosis, Cancer.Net has added specific sections onsurvivorship concerns (cancer.net/survivors); coping with physical, emotional, and family issues (cancer.net/coping); managing the cost of care (cancer.net/managingcostofcare); and advanced cancer care and end-of-life care (cancer.net/advancedcancer). Cancer.Net has also added a sectionon advocacy (cancer.net/advocacy), recognizing that some survivors may wish to use their experience to help others with cancer.
Multimedia: In addition to reading articles, site visitors can listen to podcasts (cancer.net/podcasts), watch informational videos (cancer.net/videos),and use the Cancer.Net mobile app on their iPhone, iPad, or Android phone (cancer.net/app).
Social Media: In 2002, there were no such things as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Today, Cancer.Net shares new and updated material on all three channels: facebook/cancerdotnet, twitter.com/cancerdotnet, and youtube.com/cancerdotnet. Cancer.Net also has an RSS feed to announce weekly feature articles, podcasts, and videos to those who sign up at cancer.net/feeds.
Printed Patient Education Materials:While the use of the Internet to find health information has grown significantly, not everyone has access to online resources. There is still a need for printed materials, especially those that can be easily given out in the doctor’s office. To meet this need, Cancer.Net offers Guides to Cancer and ASCO Answers fact sheets. In addition,Cancer.Net has worked with various ASCO committees and task forces to develop booklets about specific challenges, including managing the cost of cancer care, advanced cancer care planning, and survivorship. All printed patient education materials can be downloaded from Cancer.Net or ordered through the ASCO University Bookstore (cancer.net/estore).
The site first launched in May 2002 as “People Living With Cancer,” with the primary goal of providing ASCO members with a reliable, trustworthy website where they could send their patients. A key strength of the website that continues today is the high-quality content review process, led by the Cancer.Net Editorial Board comprising 150 medical, surgical, radiation, and pediatric oncologists; oncology nurses; physician assistants; social workers; and patient advocates. The frequent, high-level review of Cancer.Net’s content allows it to stand out among the sea of cancer websites.
Cancer.Net has received numerous honors, including seven awards from the Web Marketing Association WebAwards program.
Growth of Cancer.Net
As technology and progress in cancer research and treatment has evolved, so has Cancer.Net. The site not only has increased its depth and range of topics but also its interactivity. Highlights include:
Guides to Cancer: The site initially offered detailed sections on 22 different types of cancer. Now, visitors can read about more than 120 types of cancer and cancer-related syndromes at cancer.net/cancer.
Focus on Other Aspects of Cancer Care: To help patients cope with all aspects of a cancer diagnosis, Cancer.Net has added specific sections onsurvivorship concerns (cancer.net/survivors); coping with physical, emotional, and family issues (cancer.net/coping); managing the cost of care (cancer.net/managingcostofcare); and advanced cancer care and end-of-life care (cancer.net/advancedcancer). Cancer.Net has also added a sectionon advocacy (cancer.net/advocacy), recognizing that some survivors may wish to use their experience to help others with cancer.
Multimedia: In addition to reading articles, site visitors can listen to podcasts (cancer.net/podcasts), watch informational videos (cancer.net/videos),and use the Cancer.Net mobile app on their iPhone, iPad, or Android phone (cancer.net/app).
Social Media: In 2002, there were no such things as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Today, Cancer.Net shares new and updated material on all three channels: facebook/cancerdotnet, twitter.com/cancerdotnet, and youtube.com/cancerdotnet. Cancer.Net also has an RSS feed to announce weekly feature articles, podcasts, and videos to those who sign up at cancer.net/feeds.
Printed Patient Education Materials:While the use of the Internet to find health information has grown significantly, not everyone has access to online resources. There is still a need for printed materials, especially those that can be easily given out in the doctor’s office. To meet this need, Cancer.Net offers Guides to Cancer and ASCO Answers fact sheets. In addition,Cancer.Net has worked with various ASCO committees and task forces to develop booklets about specific challenges, including managing the cost of cancer care, advanced cancer care planning, and survivorship. All printed patient education materials can be downloaded from Cancer.Net or ordered through the ASCO University Bookstore (cancer.net/estore).