Geriatric Oncology: Cognition and Communication

Please note the September course is currently full and no longer accepting applications.
We have another training program scheduled for December 3-4, 2020. Click here for details or to register.

This program will provide a high-level discussion surrounding chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment, distress/anxiety, and its effects on cognition, delirium, dementia, and depression. This live virtual course will focus on communication-based concerns and barriers when interacting with the older cancer patient (including caregivers and family members), evaluation of decision making capacity, as well as how to work with an interpreter for patients who suffer both from dementia and experience a language barrier.

The day 2 Geriatric Communication Skills Training is comprised of a specific experiential learning methodology that will immerse participants in practicing newly taught skills in a simulated relevant clinical environment.

The target audience for this program includes physicians, social workers, nurses, physical therapists, and any other healthcare professionals who work with or have an interest in working with older adult cancer patients.

Registration is complimentary for accepted applicants (please see details below).
This educational activity is funded by the National Cancer Institute.

1. Provide an overview on dementia, delrium, depression: its detection and care
2. Discuss the role of distress and anxiety on quality of life of older cancer patients
3. Define decision-making capacity and explain its legal implications
4. Appreciate decision-making challenges and learn to assess in older adults with cancer and cognitive syndromes
5. Recognize ageism and appreciate how it interferes with the medical care of older adults with cancer
6. Become familiar with the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in the evaluation of elderly cancer patients
7. Understand the principles of shared decision making
8. Observe and practice skills for successful facilitation shared decision-making with an older adult with cancer and their caregivers

Please note this course is currently full and no longer accepting applications. 

This two-day training is held a few times a year for any healthcare professional who works with or has an interest in working with older cancer patients. Participants will be competitively selected by an application process and registration is complimentary for those accepted.

Post-training, participants will be given access to an interactive web portal for program content resources, a community message board and will be asked to complete follow-up evaluations for research purposes. In the year following the training, course participants will be expected to attend 6 bi-monthly videoconferences to learn additional geriatric oncology content, receive coaching on the use of the newly acquired skills, and help with problem-solving around the transfer of these skills to the participants’ own healthcare settings.

All applicants must review and agree to the MSK CME Program Terms of Use, which is included in the course application. 

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center designates this live activity for a maximum of 15.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ABIM MOC Recognition Statement

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 15.50 Medical Knowledge and Practice Assessment MOC points and patient safety MOC credit in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

Social Work Accreditation Statement

This presentation is approved for a maximum of 14.50 Continuing Education Contact Hours of Live In-Person Training. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0228.

ANCC CNE Statement

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Nursing Professional Development/Continuing Education is accredited with distinction as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Contact hours will be awarded to participants who attend the program in its entirety and complete a program evaluation. Partial credit not awarded. 

MSK Course Directors 

MSK Course Faculty 

Koshy Alexander, MD
Assistant Attending, Geriatrician
Department of Medicines

Yesne Alici, MD
Clinical Director, Associate Attending Psychiatrist
Medical Director, Biobehavioral Brain Health Clinic
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Smita Banerjee, PhD
Associate Attending Behavioral Scientist 
Member, Comskil Laboratory
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Nessa Coyle, NP, PhD, FAAN
Consultant, Advanced Practice Nurse

Javier González, MFA
Director, Linguistic and Cultural Responsiveness Service

Chrysanne Karnick MOT, OTR/L, CAPS, CLT
Senior Occupational Therapist 

Yuelin Li, PhD
Behavioral Statistician 

Ruth Manna, MPH
Associate Director
Patient Experience Partnerships

Christian J. Nelson, PhD
Chief Psychiatry  
Associate Attending Psychologist 
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Andy Roth, MD
Attending Psychiatrist
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Jessica Staley 
Manager, Comskil Program
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Faculty Disclosures (All Faculty)