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About this Live Interactive Webinar
People with serious mental illness (SMI) die 15-30 years earlier than the general population. This mortality gap is due to cardiac health and cancer. The SMI population requires clinicians to think outside of the box and work with patients and their caregivers in a different way. This webinar will introduce a collaborative care-based model for this population and explain how this model is changing the care given to patients with SMI. Oncology social workers are on the front lines with this population and their caregivers and are often the primary support for the oncology team.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the presentation, the participant will be able to:
- Discuss disparities in cancer care and research experienced by patients with serious mental illness
- Identify best practices for the integration of mental health (social work, psychiatry) and cancer care including new models of cancer care delivery and the role of oncology social work
- Highlight the unmet needs of the diverse family and community caregivers for patients with serious mental illness and cancer
- Identify opportunities for dissemination beyond the academic cancer center to the community
Presenters
| Kelly Irwin, MD, MPH, is a psychiatrist and health services researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center and MGH Schizophrenia Program who studies health care disparities in patients with serious mental illness (SMI) and cancer. Dr. Irwin received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 2008 and completed her residency in psychiatry at MGH and McLean in 2012. She is the founding director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program at the MGH Cancer Center, a clinical and research initiative dedicated to achieving equity in cancer care for people with SMI. Dr. Irwin is interested in understanding why individuals with SMI, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are twice as likely to die from cancer and in developing interventions to improve their cancer outcomes. She is a principal investigator in the Cancer Outcomes Research Program and the MGH Schizophrenia Program. Dr. Irwin’s team is conducting a series of studies focused on improving cancer outcomes throughout the continuum of cancer care for people with SMI. With funding from the American Cancer Society, she developed and piloted an innovative model of proactive psychiatry consultation for individuals with SMI and cancer which was highlighted in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Irwin is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial (BRIDGE) to assess the impact of this intervention on cancer care. Over the past year, Dr. Irwin was awarded funding from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the MGH Cancer Center, and MGH Psychiatry, to sustain and grow her research program. Dr. Irwin was recently awarded a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Engagement Award to launch a Cancer and Mental Health Collaborative to build a community network of diverse stakeholders to advance patient-centered research focused on cancer and SMI and create sustainable channels to disseminate research findings.
Amy Corveleyn, MSW, LICSW, is a licensed clinical social worker who sees patients at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and her private practice. She has worked with cancer survivors and patients with serious mental illness and their families for 13 years. She works as a community liaison at the MGH Cancer Center, helping patients connect with the medical and mental health care they need outside the hospital. Ms. Corveleyn is also the community liaison for the Cancer and Mental Health Collaborative, a community network dedicated to engage diverse stakeholders to conduct patient-centered research at the intersection of cancer and mental health care. She is the social work case manager for the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program and Dr. Kelly Irwin’s Bridge research study at MGH, which both aim to improve cancer outcomes for patients with cancer and serious mental illness by promoting collaboration across disciplines. |
Continuing Education Credits
Level – Intermediate
Participants will earn 1.5 CE credits upon successful completion of a quiz and a post-webinar evaluation.
Course Designation
This course has been approved for 1.5 Clinical continuing education clock hours.
Outline
12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m.:Discuss disparities in cancer care and research experienced by patients with serious mental illness
12:16 p.m. – 12:31 p.m.: Identify best practices for the integration of mental health (social work, psychiatry) and cancer care including new models of cancer care delivery and the role of oncology social work
12:32 p.m. – 12:57 p.m.: Highlight the unmet needs of the diverse family and community caregivers for patients with serious mental illness and cancer
12:58 p.m. – 1:13 p.m.: Identify opportunities for dissemination beyond the academic cancer center to the community
1:14 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Questions and Answers
To register, click here!