Meeting Advocacy Challenges in Skin Cancer

Skin Cancer Consortium for Advocacy, Research & Education (Skin Cancer CARE)

Integrita Healthcare Education Foundation is pleased to launch our efforts to support the skin cancer community through advocacy, research, and education. We are assembling our board, workgroups and committees  as we work under the leadership of Lisa Tushla, PhD, melanoma patient advocate, and Rob Purdie, squamous cell skin cancer patient advocate.

Our collaborative website is under construction. We will be relaunching skin-cancer content for patients and providers soon.

Integrita is pleased to participate in the GRIDD study to document the impact of skin cancer on patients. Participate now!

TAKE THE GRIDD STUDY SURVEY HERE

Integrita is a proud member of GlobalSkin.org, the International Alliance of Dermatologic Patient Organizations.

For the last 7 years, our staff have been at the forefront of immunotherapy education for both patients and providers. We are relaunching our content to support the best outcomes from immunotherapy across tumor types.

Advocacy Challenge: Educate healthcare providers and patients regarding the optimal management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs)

Backstory: Inadequate recognition and management of immune-related adverse events (irAE) associated with checkpoint inhibitors was leading to poor outcomes for patients with cancer.

 

Solution: Since 2017, Integrita team members have been involved with the creation of educational materials on irAE management to support patients receiving immunotherapy and the healthcare providers who care for them. Collaborating with the team at AIM at Melanoma, the Integrita team helped

  • Establish the Melanoma Nursing (https://themelanomanurse.org/) and AIM With Immunotherapy Initiatives (https://aimwithimmunotherapy.org/)
  • Create social media and Google Ad campaigns that helped these initiatives build a community and educate over 110,000 individuals
  • Develop practical tools for in-office use by clinicians and for patient education that can be updated on a regular basis

 

The Disruptive Elements:

  • Engaging the oncology advanced practice community to guide irAE management
  • Cross-promoting education across advocacy and continuing education activities to reach the entire healthcare team
  • Establishing the Care Step Pathway™ and Patient Action Plan tools to ensure access to updated information to support prompt identification and management of irAEs
Advocacy Challenge: Educate and build a patient community in the underserved area of non-melanoma skin cancer

Backstory: In non-melanoma skin cancer, there was a need for vetted educational materials and community-building. In particular, the seriousness of squamous cell skin cancer and basal cell carcinoma was underrecognized, and there was a dearth of information on systemic therapies for these cancers.

 

Solution: To reach this audience, the Skin Cancer Education & Research Foundation (SCERF) was formed in 2020. Integrita team members assisted in

  • Creating content for the SCERF’s website, skincancerinfo.org. This site features pictures of skin cancer, prevention information, detailed discussion of therapies, a find-a-doctor list, clinical trial matching service, and an ask-the-expert feature
  • Developing a promotional campaign through social media and Google Ads that has driven 60,000 unique individuals to the site to date
  • Expanded the reach of the initiative through a webinar series, survivor stories, and blogs

 

The Disruptive Elements:

  • Creating skincancerinfo.org as a sister site to AIM at Melanoma in order to distinguish melanoma vs nonmelanoma skin cancers (not lump them together, which causes confusion)
  • Focusing the messaging to engage audience members across the spectrum and raise awareness of the seriousness of nonmelanoma skin cancer
  • Identifying and promoting of nonmelanoma skin cancer experts