In addition to providing the voice of the Patient and Caregiver and acting as the heart of MOQC’s direction, the Patient and Caregiver Quality Council (POQC) has four active workgroups:
Financial Resources
The Financial Resources Workgroup, in partnership with Dr. Minal Patel, developed a session for the January MOQC Biannual Meeting centered around financial toxicity, financial navigation for patients and their loved ones, and the role of checklists in addressing simple, complicated, and complex problems. Addressing these concerns can improve not only the psychological health of people with cancer but also their clinical outcomes. Excitement around the impact this could have has led to potential opportunities for development of a statewide financial navigation program.
Patient and Caregiver Resources
POQC’s Patient and Caregiver Resources workgroup is developing a search engine to help patients and their caregivers navigate to resources easily and quickly. At the June MOQC Biannual Meeting, POQC members will introduce the search engine and offer an interactive session that will explore the impact and importance of caregiving on cancer patients.
BVOGUE: Black Voices on Gynecologic Cancer: Understanding Experiences
The purpose of BVOGUE is to identify and address the racial disparities that exist for Black patients with gynecologic cancer. We value the voices of Black gynecologic cancer patients and would like to learn directly from them through the use of focus groups. They are the only ones who are experts on their own experiences with cancer and can talk about factors that might have influenced their care. The BVOGUE team hopes to use what is learned in this study to further research and work to implement potential solutions to the biggest problems that are identified. This will be done to improve the experience and overall health outcomes for Black patients in the future.
Recruitment
One of the primary goals of POQC for 2022 is expanding POQC’s membership base by an addition of a minimum of 10 members. POQC is seeking more diverse representation in a variety of ways, including geographic diversity, cancer type diversity, and medically underserved populations. POQC is happy to present at groups about membership, including compensation and community, in any appropriate forum.
Please email Vanessa Aron at varon@moqc.org with any questions about POQC.