The Road to CAR-T: Understanding the Process, Administration, and Patients’ Lived Experiences

Ontario is building capacity for CAR-T cell therapy. Currently, there are two CAR-T cell therapy centres for the adult population in Ontario—Juravinski Cancer Centre and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. While it is gaining prominence as a “living therapy”, there are still gaps in the nurses’ knowledge around CAR-T—the process, administration, and insights on the patient’s journey. Therefore, the speaker took the leap to pursue a placement in Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY, as part of the application for the de Souza nurse designation not only to gain experience around CAR-T but, as well, to map out the patient’s experience after a referral is made to Roswell Park (out-of-country). The purpose of this presentation is to share the author’s experience in her quest to learn more about CAR-T including CAR-T administration, processes, and to map out a Canadian patient’s experience who is receiving CAR-T in the United States specifically at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. In keeping with the theme of this year’s CANO/ACIO conference, “Now and Forever Oncology Nursing”, this presentation will not only broaden the participant’s knowledge about CAR-T, but they can also gain insights and critical awareness by mapping out the patient’s lived experiences before, during, and post CAR-T.