Nurse Practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice nurse who works collaboratively with doctors to diagnose and treat various illnesses. NPs routinely take medical history, perform physical exams, discuss diagnostic results and educate patients. Learn more at Bay Regional Cancer Center.

1. What Do You Do
As A Nurse Practitioner
with Lisa Neuenfeldt

2. A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice nurse
who works collaboratively with doctors to diagnose and
treat various illnesses. NPs routinely take medical history,
perform physical exams, discuss diagnostic results and
educate patients. They are often the first line of
communication with patients, seeing patients along with
oncologists at their initial consultation and then during
follow-up visits.

3. As practiced nurses, the NPs:
● Educate patients
● Clarify information
● Manage symptoms
● Offer psychosocial support, empowering patients to
play a critical role in their health care decisions.

4. Member of a
Multidisciplinary Team

5. At the Bay Regional Cancer Center, the Nurse Practitioner
is part of a multidisciplinary team of health care
professionals headed by a medical oncologist. NPs work
closely with physicians, surgeons, palliative caregivers and
families to care for patients and help them throughout the
treatment process.

6. The nurse practitioner takes patient history — what is
going on with each patient individually — monitors the
physical condition of the patient and helps to manage
symptoms.
The NP also may provide timely consultations for
oncologic emergencies, prescribe drugs to manage
symptoms and renew anti-cancer medications that have
been prescribed by an oncologist.

7. Involved in Treatment Planning

8. As part of the oncology treatment team, NPs participate in
treatment planning. At BRCC (Bay Regional Cancer
Center) and AUI (Advanced Urology Institute), each
treatment plan is tailored to the needs of a patient
depending on the type of cancer, location and stage of
cancer, and the patient’s general health, medical history
and age.

9. During planning, the risks and benefits of various options
are reviewed and the option chosen is often the one that
has the least possible disruption on the normal life and
schedule of the patient.
The Nurse Practitioner helps the patient participate in the
decision making process by addressing concerns and
answering questions about treatment frequency, side
effects, possible medications and other topics.

10. Managing Side Effects

11. The Nurse Practitioner anticipates the side effects of
treatment, educates patients about them and helps to
manage them. The NP provides timely supportive care to
patients during their weekly on-treatment visits to the
oncologist, and addresses any urgent patient needs that
may occur during treatment or in the first few weeks after
treatment, when radiation toxicity is expected to hit a peak.

12. Timely supportive care is necessary soon after
radiotherapy when patients may experience a high
symptom burden, which negatively impacts treatment
outcomes and quality of life. The NP also offers lifelong
surveillance and management of late side effects of
treatment.

13. Coordination of Care

14. Nurse Practitioners coordinate care, particularly when
radiation is given in combination with other treatments,
such as chemotherapy. As a NP, you work closely with
other members of the cancer team to make sure that all
appointments take place.

15. You take care of the follow-ups and coordinate
survivorship programs. The NP ensures that the patients
get all the support they need to start a new, positive life
with cancer and maintain a very high level of wellness after
cancer diagnosis.
At BRCC and AUI, Nurse Practitioners have a wonderful
collaborative relationship with oncologists, making sure
that patients have all the information they need to recover
from a devastating and chronic illness such as cancer.

16. In the NPs, patients find a fully involved and more
accessible member of the oncology team who can help
them throughout their recovery process. The NPs work
with other members of the oncology team to maintain,
maximize or restore patient health via innovative
approaches in service delivery.
And through the NPs, BRCC is able to deliver safe, timely,
integrative and comprehensive cancer care.

17. For more information on safe,
effective cancer care, visit us at
Bay Regional Cancer Center.