Report on the OZPOS/PoCoG Professional Day
On Monday 16 November 2009, PoCoG and OZPOS held a Psycho-oncology Professional day as a satellite event to the COSA ASM. Over 130 participants registered to attend the Professional Day, which aimed to strengthen existing collaborations and lead to the establishment of new psycho-oncology networks between researchers and clinicians in psycho-oncology. The day commenced with a plenary session entitled “Branding distress- 6th vital sign in cancer care: From practice to policy” from Dr Barry Bultz, Director of the Department of Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Canada. Dr Bultz’s presentation addressed the importance of routine screening for distress.
The program also included three research sessions: “What about me? CALD and other vulnerable groups,” “At the coalface – clinical issues across the cancer journey,” and “What’s hot – emerging research in psycho-oncology”; and two clinical workshops, “Sexuality and intimacy in cancer care: Enhancing clinical practice” and “Mindfulness in therapy”. A panel discussion entitled “Implementation and outreach” explored practical issues of service delivery with a multidisciplinary group of psycho-oncology professionals: Dr Barry Bultz (Clinical Psychologist), Prof. David Clarke from beyondblue, and PoCoG members Ms Kim Hobbs (Social Worker) and Prof. Brian Kelly (Psychiatrist). The day closed with the launch of the database of measures by Prof. David Currow, CEO Cancer Australia and Prof. Phyllis Butow, PoCoG Chair.
The Professional Day was successful in providing a dedicated forum for the excellent Psycho-oncology research being conducted in Australia; creating opportunity for clinicians to gain access to innovative research ideas, and providing an opportunity for researchers, especially those junior in their career, to present their work and receive feedback about their work, and establish more formal links with clinicians and researchers. PoCoG and OZPOS would like to thank all of the Professional Day speakers and session chairs for preparing such informative presentations and workshops, the COSA conference organisers for their assistance with general preparation and registrations for the day, and finally, all of the psycho-oncology professionals who attended. The Professional Day was kindly funded by COSA and Cancer Australia.
The results of the Psycho-oncology Professional Day Evaluation Survey are available for download below