Report on the 35th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society of Cancer Nursing
The 35th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society of Cancer Nursing was held online, and wasdelivered for two months from February 27 to April 30, 2021. Although this was the first time to beheld online, it was highly evaluated by the participants. More than 4700 participants, mainly cancer
nursing practitioners, educators, and researchers in Japan, attended the conference, and 315
presentations of research results were given, making it a very successful academic meeting.
The theme of the conference was “Leading Cancer Nursing in the Post-Genomic Era”. Professor
Atsuko Uchinuno, Vice President of the University of Hyogo, made the following remarks at theconference. Cancer nursing in Japan has flexibly responded to the development of cancer treatment.
Nurses and researchers have been involved in palliative care and symptom management, careassociated with various drug therapies including hormone therapy and molecular targeted drugs,
decision support for treatment, nursing care during radiation therapy, and survivor care. In June 2018,
insurance began to cover genomic analysis of cancer, and cancer genomic medicine has begun in Japan.
However, only a limited number of patients will be able to find variants of genes that are compatible
with treatment, and genetic information is not always predictive. Confusion can easily arise among
patients and family; therefore, sophisticated cancer nursing is needed, when new medical technology
is being introduced. Genomic medicine is already useful in nursing, explaining the function of specificgenes, individual responses to therapeutic drugs, and avoiding adverse drug events. The academic
conference on cancer nursing aimed to discuss the role of nursing in cancer genome medicine, as well
as looking forward to the possibilities of care in the post-genome era.
The special lecture was given by Dr. Christine Miaskowski, Professor of School of Nursing,
University of California, San Francisco Departments of Physiological Nursing and Anesthesia, entitled"Transforming Health Through Genomics Nursing: Opportunities and Challenges". Prof. Yuko
Kawasaki, University of Hyogo, chaired the session. Dr. Miaskowski stated that cancer nurses need tounderstand the mechanisms of diseases and symptoms at the genetic level, and link such theknowledge to care and treatment so that health care team could achieve quality precision healthcare.
She also presented her research result and its clinical applications of symptom management. She
emphasized the responsibilities of cancer nurses, updating their knowledge, educating patients andnurses about genomic medicine, and actively participating in change in precision health.
As the project of the international activities committee, the special lecture titled “Advancing
Symptom Science for Oncology Patients in the Era of Precision Health” was held. Dr. Miaskowski
gave a lecture, and Professor Mika Miyashita, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Hiroshima
University, chaired the session. In the U.S., the efforts to use genomic information and to develop
nursing strategies predicting individual symptom with cancer treatment have already begun. Dr.
Miaskowski mentioned analytical methods for identifying the risk of symptom occurrence andpredicting individualized symptom occurrence and change based on genomic information wasmentioned, using actual research results on fatigue, chemotherapy-induced nausea, and peripheral
neuropathy. Dr. Miaskowski noted that research in this area is important for understanding patients'
risk of symptoms and for developing symptom management interventions that identify themechanisms of symptoms. Dr. Miaskowski conveyed the message that it is important for nurses to beknowledgeable about genetic medicine and be prepared to educate their patients appropriately.
In addition, there were educational lectures on Precision Medicine and a panel discussion on
Genomic Nursing, where the role of cancer nurses was also discussed. There were also discussions on
end-of-life care, advanced care planning, and decision support, which are universal issues of how todeal with human life and death, regardless of changes in medical care. Participants had opportunities
to reconsider what cancer nursing should be in the future.
The screenshot was taken on a screen with a photo that was specially approved by the conference
planning committee office.