This issue continues the important work of translating evidence to practice with 5 systematic reviews and a narrative literature reviews; 2 from the Section's EDGE Task Force work with systematic reviews of pain and fatigue outcome measures in adults with any cancer in oncology physical therapy. How important are these reviews to our practice? Pain and fatigue are the two most common symptom complaints in cancer survivors and these reviews answer the question which tools should you use to measure these symptoms in every cancer survivors you screen and examine. The third most common symptom complaint in cancer survivors is anxiety/depression which needs to be screened, also.
Another theme critically important to our practice is addressed in the third systematic review and a research report– How we measure function, and intervene to improve function. The review article is entitled, "Physical therapy based interventions improve balance, function, symptoms and quality of life in patients with chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review," and has a companion podcast on the journal homepage by Lisa Doyle. The research report by Davies, et al describes use of a tool with breast cancer survivors to detect change in activity with use of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale.
The final theme in this issue is the fourth review translating evidence to practice in Hospice and Palliative Care, "Best Practices for Public Policies for Palliative Care Physical Therapy: A Critical Review of the Literature;" and the Clinical Conversation column on the roles of PT in Interdisciplinary Palliative Care and Hospice Teams. Rounding out this issue is a narrative literature review regarding a question that consistently comes up in discussion related to interventions in cancer survivors; when to use of Physical Agents? The Research Round-up column crystalizes an important clinical decision-making issue of what constitutes screening and assessment. You get a preview of next January's special issue on HIV/AIDS rehabilitation with the case series report from Galantino et. al. entitled, "Yoga for Persons Living with HIV-related Distal Sensory Polyneuropathy." Mary Lou and David Kietrys are guest editors for the special issue. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, the call for papers is at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/rehabonc/default.aspx. Lastly, The Oncology Section 2018 election results and Section Awards given at CSM 2018 are reported in the online issue. Congratulations to all and thank you for your willingness to serve!
Lucinda (Cindy) Pfalzer, PT, PhD
Editor
