Implementing Shared Medical Appointments for Cancer Patients to Cancer Survivors: An Evidence-Based Project for Breast Cancer Survivorship
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Date
2024-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
More than 2 million new cancer cases are expected by 2024 in the United States. The fast-growing cancer survivors are estimated to be up to 18.4 million, 5.4% of the population in the United States, by 2032. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, following skin cancers in the United States. Breast cancer survivors often struggle with physical, mental, psychosocial, and financial difficulties following cancer treatments. The implementation of SMA for breast cancer survivorship is an evidence-based quality improvement initiative. Shared medical appointments (SMAs) for breast cancer survivorship can provide effective and efficient survivorship care to address unmet survivorship needs. The 90-minute survivorship SMA consists of an individual visit with a clinician and comprehensive education, counseling, and peer support with multidisciplinary oncology providers in groups of three patients. Three multidisciplinary-led SMA sessions weekly provided a comprehensive survivorship care plan for nine patients at a community cancer center. Following the SMA session, all patients received a treatment summary and individualized survivorship care plan. Eleven of the sixty-eight eligible breast cancer patients agreed and scheduled for SMAs, and nine patients (82%) attended the SMA sessions. Most participants expressed high satisfaction with SMA, rated 3.64 out of 4. Overall, most participants indicated a gain in knowledge through SMA sessions, with post-survey knowledge scores increasing by an average of 17%. Multidisciplinary-driven SMA can provide comprehensive survivorship care and individualized care plans to address difficulties during the cancer journey.
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Keywords
survivorship, shared medical appointment, breast cancer