In this video interview, Joseph Mikhael, MD, discusses research on challenges experienced in the treatment and management of multiple myeloma from the perspective of health care providers.
An abstract titled “An Overview of Challenges Experienced in Multiple Myeloma: Perspectives of Hematologist-Oncologists and Specialist Nurses,” was presented during the 20th International Myeloma Society meeting, which was held September 27-30, 2023, in Athens, Greece.
Dr. Mikhael serves as a Professor in the Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery Division at Translational Research Institute, an affiliate at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California.
For the research, interviews were conducted to gather the perspectives of both clinicians and nurses. He said that there were themes that transcended geographical location.
“It was fascinating to me that there were very important themes that were literally independent of location that really crossed the geographical barriers of the planet as we interviewed people, you know, from multiple jurisdictions across the country across the world,” Dr. Mikhael said.
“Some of those themes included the complex decision making that has to go into caring for a myeloma patient,” he said.
Those included the logistical challenges of treatments.
“From getting approval of an agent and the insurance coverage, transportation of the patient for that therapy, dealing with the side effects of it, some treatments are delivered in hospitals, some of the clinics on intravenously, some orally, all of those features make the logistics and the full care of treatment challenging,” he said.