Survivorship Plans Guide Life After Cancer Treatment
Summary
- Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center provides all patients who complete their initial treatment a customized survivorship plan.
- Cancer survivorship is on the rise, with 26 million cancer survivors in the U.S. expected by 2040.
- Sylvester’s survivorship team addresses psychosocial needs as well as physical symptoms that often come as side effects of cancer and its treatment.
Thanks to improved early cancer detection and treatment, the number of cancer survivors has soared over the past few decades. With almost 20 million cancer survivors in the country today and a projected 26 million by 2040, the need for survivorship support is strong and growing.
Enter Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of UHealth – University of Miami Health System, where survivorship and supportive care have long been a top priority and where all patients who complete their initial treatment are guaranteed a customized survivorship plan. The formal plan, a personalized document that can be printed out and also lives in the medical record and on the patient portal, summarizes the care received, the treatment team and follow-up care guidelines. The document also helps guide how to manage the physical, psychosocial and practical needs of cancer survivors, which are traditionally unmet.
“Sylvester stands out as one of the top survivorship and supportive care programs in the nation that provides this comprehensive wellness assessment and care to our patients,” said Frank Penedo, Ph.D., associate director of population sciences and director of Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Care at Sylvester, South Florida’s only NCI-designated cancer center. “We address emotional needs like anxiety and fear of recurrence, physical needs like fatigue and pain and lifestyle factors like nutrition and physical activity.”
Cancer Survivorship from Day 1
Individuals are cancer survivors, as defined by the National Cancer Institute, from the day of diagnosis through the balance of their lives. Survivorship care kicks in once the patient has completed the initial treatment phase.
Those interested in securing a survivorship care plan meet with a nurse or advanced practitioner. They prepare a document summarizing the type of cancer, the treatment received and the care team. This document synthesizes information to help the patient manage follow-up care and other health care and lifestyle recommendations, which have traditionally been challenging for patients who often have not only multiple oncology providers but also other conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
The care coordinators also help patients secure a primary care provider to address any other conditions and monitor the late and long-term effects of cancer treatment.
“We also make sure patients are undergoing necessary screening for recurrence or for a second cancer because, once you’ve had cancer, you’re at greater risk for developing another cancer,” Dr. Penedo said. “We guide patients and help them organize the next steps in their cancer care to ensure they experience the most optimal health outcomes. It’s an accreditation requirement, but we go beyond the accreditation by making sure we are providing holistic care to our patients.”
Jessica MacIntyre, D.N.P., APRN, assistant vice president of Sylvester’s survivorship and supportive care programs, said the survivorship plans are key to helping primary care providers understand how to best care for their patients.
“We are building our primary care support at UHealth, and the survivorship plan is such a good document for primary care providers to have because it helps them understand what is going on and can use it as a starting point to have meaningful conversations with their patients,” she said. “It also instructs them on whom to communicate with should an issue arise.”
Sylvester Wellness Clinics
Survivorship plans are one of the many helpful tools provided through Sylvester’s survivorship wellness clinics, which are embedded throughout the health system’s oncology departments. These clinics serve patients in person and online.
“We focus on how we can support cancer survivors to help prevent cancer recurrence and optimize their survival outcomes,” MacIntyre said. “We aren’t a replacement for their care team, but an addition to their care team, supporting them in areas they weren’t able to touch upon during follow-up visits with their cancer care team.”
The team addresses psychosocial needs as well as physical symptoms that stem from cancer and its treatment. They make referrals and offer resources to support lifestyle changes in nutrition and exercise, and to cope with the challenges of life after cancer treatment. Importantly, they also support providers who want to provide survivorship care in their own clinics.
“This is well-received by patients because they know their providers more than they know us, so they feel comfortable going to them,” MacIntyre said. “Many organizations are still trying to figure out what the best model is to deliver survivorship care. At Sylvester, we have done really well providing different models of care to provide that personalized approach to our patient population.”
Sylvester has a longstanding breast cancer survivorship clinic. The model has now expanded to other sites such as head and neck, thyroid and gynecological cancers.
“We are committed to meeting our community’s needs by offering multiple care models that expand access and ensure every patient receives the most appropriate and high-quality survivorship care,” said Dr. Penedo.
Tags: cancer survivorship, Cancer Survivorship Program, Dr. Frank Penedo, Jessica MacIntyre, Sylverster Comprehensive Cancer Center