Incorporating Occupational Therapy into Cancer Care: Enhancing Independence and Quality of Life

SELF STUDY / ENDURING - ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE ACTIVITY: 50 Minutes

Overview

Incorporating Occupational Therapy into Cancer Care is essential for enhancing patient independence and quality of life. This course delves into the integration of occupational therapy within oncology care, focusing on addressing the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial challenges faced by cancer patients. Participants will learn to identify when patients would benefit from occupational therapy referrals and explore interventions that manage cancer-related fatigue, pain, and cognitive impairments. The training emphasizes the importance of early intervention, evidence-based strategies, and a holistic approach to support patients from diagnosis through survivorship, palliative care, and end-of-life stages.

Target Audience

This CME initiative was designed for oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, NPs, PAs, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals involved in the treatment of patients with cancer.

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial challenges faced by oncology patients, and explore how integrating occupational therapy into their care plan can effectively address these issues.
  2. Identify key indicators that suggest when an oncology patient would benefit from a referral to occupational therapy.
  3. Review occupational therapy interventions that address cancer-related fatigue, pain, and other side effects to enhance an oncology patient's independence and improve their quality of life.
  4. Describe how occupational therapy interventions support oncology patients from diagnosis through survivorship, palliative care, and end-of-life stages. 
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

    This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Horizon CME is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

    Horizon CME designates this Enduring activity for a maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Course opens: 
09/05/2025
Course expires: 
09/05/2026
Cost:
$0.00
Rating: 
0

Faculty

Melora Rennie, OTR/L, CLT-LANA

Occupational & Lymphedema Therapist
PORi Certified Oncology Rehabilitation Specialist 
Northside Hospital
Atlanta, GA

Melora Rennie is from Prince Edward Island, Canada but has been a resident of Atlanta, GA since 2009. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a Bachelor of Education at Canadian Universities. After completing Brenau University's three-year Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy program in 2013, Melora qualified as an Occupational Therapist. Following her graduation, she gained experience at an inpatient rehabilitation setting before joining Northside Hospital's acute care team in November 2014.

Over the last 10 years of her career, Melora has specialized in oncology rehabilitation, primarily working on the Blood & Marrow Transplant Unit. In 2015, she became a Certified Lymphedema Therapist through the Academy of Lymphatic Studies and maintains her certification with the Lymphology Association of North America. The PORi Oncology Rehabilitation Institute based out of Denver, CO is where Melora pursued further education in oncology rehabilitation and holds the distinction of a PORi Oncology Rehabilitation Specialist.

As an oncology patient advocate at Northside Hospital, Melora has assisted in developing clinical practice guidelines for rehabilitation clinicians to use when treating patients with various cancer diagnoses, including breast cancer, lung cancer, abdominal cancer, and blood and marrow cancers. Melora maintains her passion for education and has presented at the Georgia Occupational Therapy Association Conference, American Conference of Rehabilitation Medicine, and at the Sarcoma Patient Symposium.

Disclosures:

In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Horizon CME (HCME) ensures that continuing education activities are balanced, independent, objective, and scientifically rigorous. 

All persons in a position to influence the content of an accredited continuing education activity provided by Horizon CME are required to disclose to HCME any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies within the past 24 months. All reported relevant financial relationships have been mitigated by Horizon CME.

Melora Rennie, OTR/L, CLT-LANA discloses no relevant financial relationships with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing healthcare goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients during the past 24 months.

Available Credit

  • 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

    This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Horizon CME is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

    Horizon CME designates this Enduring activity for a maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Price

Cost:
$0.00
Please login or register to take this course.

There are no fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this enduring activity. To receive CME credit participants must:

  1. Read the CME/CE information and faculty disclosures.
  2. Participate in the online activity.
  3. Complete the post-test
  4. Submit the evaluation form

DISCLAIMER:

This activity is designed for educational purposes. Participants have a responsibility to utilize this information to enhance their professional development to improve patient outcomes. Conclusions drawn by the participants should be derived from careful consideration of all available scientific information. The participant should use his/her clinical judgment, knowledge, experience, and diagnostic decision-making before applying any information, whether provided here or by others, for any professional use.

Required Hardware/software

Access to the internet is required.

Supported Browsers:

Internet Explorer 8.0+ for Windows 2003, Vista, XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and above

Google Chrome 28.0+ for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux

Mozilla Firefox 23.0+ for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux

Safari 6.0+ for Mac OSX 10.7 and above

 

Supported Phones & Tablets:

 Android 4.0.3 and above

iPhone/iPad with iOS 6.1 or above