Embracing the Forward Journey: Cancer Survivorship
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has named nine chronic conditions dominating the United States health care landscape – and cancer survivorship is one of them. An estimated 12 million people are survivors, living for years after cancer. But even the most resilient can face unique problems. Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin have long considered a patient’s quality of life an important priority.
A cancer survivor (left) and Kathy Myers, BSN, RN, relax near the patient art gallery, made possible by the Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation and other donors to the Froedtert Hospital Foundation.
t the Clinical Cancer Center, survivorship resources are an integral part of care that revolves around the patient – a design called the hub concept. An experienced oncology nurse who specializes in a specific form of cancer works with clinic nurses and physicians to coordinate care for each patient. That coordination carries over to resources needed during and after treatment, including nutrition guidance, pain management, support groups, smoking cessation and financial counseling.
“The high level of support we offer is critical for cancer patients who often feel completely alone – overwhelmed by the diagnosis, well-meaning advice, tests, treatments and appointments,” said Kathy Myers, BSN, RN, clinical nurse coordinator for the Head and Neck Cancer Program. “We’ve offered survivorship support for years, but our centralized location for cancer care allows us to give survivorship resources an even higher focus.”
The IOM’s focus on survivorship as a chronic disease is a subtle, but important shift. “It brings awareness to the challenge of caring for cancer survivors by recognizing the short and long-term effects that become part of patients’ primary care priority,” Myers said.
“Planning for life after cancer begins before treatment. I can easily get our patients in touch with a fertility expert, genetics counselor,
social worker or cancer dietitian,” she said. “We have occupational and physical therapy services, psych-oncology and child-life specialists, chaplains, exercise programs and many other resources right here.”
Care Plan Pilot Program
Another challenge for cancer survivors is tracking health information to guide future medical care. The IOM recommends cancer patients receive a survivorship care plan after cancer treatment ends. The plan should include a diagnosis summary, as well as information about: treatment and potential consequences, timing and content of follow-up visits, cancer prevention, employment and insurance rights, and support services.
Myers is directing a pilot program with head and neck cancer patients who have been treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. She creates a survivorship care plan using a tool called Journey Forward™ by such organizations as the Oncology Nursing Society and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.
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“The care plan is a guide for the patient and his or her primary care team in transitioning back to normal life,” Myers said. “Having so many patient-centered resources available in a single location makes the Clinical Cancer Center unique in southeastern Wisconsin. Curing cancer is always our goal, but we keep survivorship in mind all along.”
Mapping Out Survival
In the future, more cancer patients will receive detailed survivorship care plans that will be shared with their primary care physicians when cancer treatment ends. “If a patient doesn’t have a primary care doctor, we’ll connect them with resources to help them find one. We’re highly invested not only in treating cancer patients, but helping them live well for years beyond diagnosis,” Myers said.
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froedtert.com/cancer Clinical Cancer Center
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