This workshop focused on knowledge, skills and practical strategies that advanced practice nurses can use to optimise care for older people with cancer. It foregrounded person-centred assessment and raised awareness of assumptions and bias about ageing and older people's preferences for care. The workshop introduced pragmatic tools for age-friendly care and the new Optimal Care Pathway for Older People with Cancer.
Recording guide
Explore the topics
The workshop was recorded as four separate videos. Open the guide below to see each one, then select any recording to watch it on YouTube in a new tab.
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Learning outcomes
What you will learn
In this workshop, participants will:
01
Consider the needs of older people
Understand why it is critical that we consider the needs of older people living with cancer.
02
Recognise bias and assumptions
Increase awareness of the harms of common biases, assumptions and attitudes that influence care for older people with cancer.
03
Explore the Optimal Care Pathway
Explore how the Optimal Care Pathway for Older People with Cancer (OCP) aims to combat ageism in the system and set a gold standard pathway of care for older people with cancer.
04
Use the G8 screening tool
Gain insight into the practicality of using the G8 screening tool in clinical practice and integrating findings into care planning.
05
Use age-friendly care tools
Learn about the OlderCan website and This Is Me tools to enhance age-friendly care.
06
Take away concrete actions
Leave with a set of concrete actions that can be implemented the next working day to improve care delivery.
At a glance
The event in brief
Originally held
Thursday 26 February 2026
Workshop, part of the National Melanoma Nursing Program.
Who this is for
Nurses
Advanced practice nurses aiming to optimise care for older people with cancer.
Contributors
Speakers
Speaker
Professor Mei Krishnasamy
Professor of Nursing (Cancer), Department of Nursing, University of Melbourne; VCCC Alliance Cancer Nursing Lead
Professor Mei Krishnasamy is Professor of Nursing in the Department of Nursing at the University of Melbourne, the VCCC Alliance Cancer Nursing Lead, and an honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Services Research in Cancer at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Mei's career has been defined by a commitment to advancing equity of access to evidence-informed cancer care by developing the capability of nurses to develop and implement value-based health service innovation. She has an established record of collaborative co-design research focusing on the development and evaluation of approaches to care and strategies targeted at improving patient and carer experiences of living with cancer, demands of treatment and symptom profiles, linking experience of care innovation to improved patient outcomes.
Speaker
Catherine Devereux
Research Project Manager, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and University of Melbourne
Catherine is an allied health clinician (orthoptist), groupwork facilitator, co-design researcher and education resource developer whose particular interests are experiential learning, communication skills and person-centred approaches to care. In the last 10 years as a Research Project Manager with Peter Mac and the University of Melbourne, Catherine has led eight qualitative co-design studies, all partnering closely with consumers and prioritising tangible outcomes for patients, carers and health professionals. Three supportive care digital resources have been co-created: for people affected by pancreatic cancer; to empower older people with cancer (wecan.org.au/oldercan); and to support patients and carers who are preparing for end of life. Catherine has also co-created multiple education and awareness-raising videos, which in recent studies address optimal communication, safe mobility of inpatients, and staff training in enquiring with people at risk of elder abuse (Emotional Elder Abuse – a sensitive conversation).
Speaker
Paul Baden
Consumer Representative
Paul's professional career was in hospitality recruitment, human services and business mentoring, running a successful business for over 25 years. Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's mantle cell lymphoma in 2005, Paul had an allogeneic bone marrow transplant in December 2005 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Paul has been a consumer advocate and representative for the past 17 years. He is currently involved in several committees, including the Cancer Education and Training Advisory Group (CETAC) with the VCCC Alliance, and the Consumer Research Advisory Group (CRAG) and the Partnering with Consumers Committee at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He has been involved in many research projects and is currently leading a Consumer Steering Group on a four-year clinical research trial with Monash University. Paul was a collaborator on the Older and Wiser project, which developed a co-designed, online supportive care resource for older adults affected by cancer, funded by a Cancer Australia grant (2018–2021).
Speaker
Nicole Webb
McGrath Cancer Care Nurse, Albury Wodonga Health
Nicole is a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse with Albury Wodonga Health, specialising in advanced lung and primary brain cancer. In addition to her clinical role, she holds a position as a research fellow at La Trobe University, focusing on research in supportive care for older adults with cancer. Graduating with a Bachelor of Nursing from La Trobe University in 1993, Nicole has worked in aged care, rehabilitation and oncology. She completed a Master of Cancer Sciences at the University of Melbourne in 2021 and, alongside her nursing qualifications, holds a Diploma in Education Studies and a Certificate IV in Leadership and Management. Nicole is a member of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia and the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia. In her spare time, she loves running, bushwalking, yoga and listening to audiobooks.
Speaker
Dr Sharon de Graves
Senior Manager Cancer Nursing, VCCC Alliance; Program Manager, Nursing and Midwifery Research Collaborative, Department of Nursing, University of Melbourne
Sharon is the Program Manager of Nurse-Led Research at the VCCC Alliance. She has a nursing career spanning over 25 years, with a background in paediatric and adolescent oncology and cancer nursing more broadly. She has expertise in the fields of nursing research, education, leadership and management. Sharon is passionate about developing opportunities and supporting nurses to integrate research and critical inquiry into their everyday practice.
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