Facilitating survivorship program development for health care providers and administrators

Abstract

Purpose This manuscript will describe institutional changes observed through goal analysis that occurred following a multidisciplinary education project, aimed at preparing healthcare professionals to meet the needs of the growing numbers of cancer survivors. Method Post course evaluations consisted of quantitative questionnaires and follow up on three goals created by each participating team, during the 3-day educational program. Evaluations were performed 6, 12 and 18 months-post course for percent of goal achievement. Goals were, a priori coded based on the Institute of Medicine’s survivorship care components, along with 2 additional codes related to program development and education. Results Two hundred and four teams participated over the 4 yearly courses. A total of 51.6% of goals were related to program development, 21% to survivorship care interventions, 20.9% on educational goals, and only 4.7% related to coordination of care, 1.4% on surveillance, and 0.4% related to prevention-focused goals. Quantitative measures post course showed significant changes in comfort and effectiveness in survivorship care in the participating institutions. Conclusion During the period 2006–2009, healthcare institutions focused on developing survivorship care programs and educating staff, in an effort to prepare colleagues to provide and coordinate survivorship care, in cancer settings across the country. Implications Goal-directed education provided insight into survivorship activities occurring across the nation. Researchers were able to identify survivorship care programs and activities, as well as the barriers to developing these programs. This presented opportunities to discuss possible interventions to improve follow-up care and survivors’ quality of life.

Integrating primary care providers in the care of cancer survivors: gaps in evidence and future opportunities

“…Such training may occur via participation in specialized programs, (45) continuing medical education conferences and workshops, or internship-like “shadowing” in institutions caring for cancer survivors. Such providers would be leading the field and help address the knowledge gaps that have been identified among PCPs, help bolster patient and oncology provider receptivity to transitioning to primary care, and also increase the capacity of primary care systems infrastructure to develop collaborative care.…”

Primary Care Physician Perspectives on Caring for Adult Survivors of Hematologic Malignancies and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

“…Overall, this and other observations from our study suggests a need for improved physician education and training in survivorship care in our patient population of interest of hematologic malignancy and HCT survivors. Such training could occur through participation in specialized programs, continuing medical education conferences and workshops 21 .…”

Learning the landscape: implementation challenges of primary care innovators around cancer survivorship care

“…Two national opportunities for change in the oncology context, the LIVESTRONG Centers for Excellence Program [53] and City of Hope’s multi-disciplinary educational program, delineated similar implementation barriers [54]. These barriers included reimbursement issues, space constraints, turnover, competing projects diverting resources from survivorship, inadequate leadership support for clinical process changes, and newly implemented or poorly integrated clinical information systems [53, 54]. Primary care systems may face additional challenges as clinicians strive to meet patients’ competing healthcare needs.…”