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Penn's
online survivorship care plans empower
cancer survivors, caregivers
OncoLife care
plans provide screening, treatment roadmap
for nation's 12 million cancer survivors
(DENVER) – An online tool that provides
cancer survivors and their family members
with an easy-to-follow roadmap for managing
their health as they finish treatment and
transition to life as a survivor got high
marks from users, according to new
University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine research at the American
Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th
Annual Meeting 2009 in Denver.
Ninety-seven percent of people who used
OncoLife, the first online cancer
survivorship care plan tool – developed by
physicians and nurses from Penn's Abramson
Cancer Center – rated their experience with
the tool as "good" to "excellent," and 84
percent said they planned to share their
plan with their health care team.
The findings reveal that OncoLife can serve
as one way to fulfill the Institute of
Medicine's recommendation that the 12
million cancer survivors across the United
States use plans like these to become
knowledgeable about the potential late
effects and learn about the specialized
follow-up care they'll need following their
disease.
"This tool empowers patients to open
important dialogue with their healthcare
providers to better understand the effects
of their cancer treatment," says James Metz,
MD, an associate professor of Radiation
Oncology who serves as editor-in-chief of
OncoLink and the department's Chief of
Clinical Operations.
"Because this tool is Internet based, cancer
survivors and healthcare providers now have
an easy and reliable way to obtain
information regarding survivorship care
issues instantaneously."
Penn researchers surveyed 3,343 individuals
who created OncoLife care plans during an
18-month period in 2007 and 2008.
In addition to cancer survivors, who made up
62 percent of the OncoLife users, health
care providers and family or friends of
survivors also created care plans on the
site.
In a survey of the survivors who made
OncoLife plans -- whose diagnoses included
more than 34 different cac c ncers – 97
percent reported finding the information on
the site to be helpful.
The researchers say the high number of users
who said they planned to share their care
plans with their health care providers is
encouraging.
Since many patients rely on their primary
care physicians to deliver this
multidisciplinary "survivorship care" after
they're released from treatment with
oncologists, communication is essential to
helping patients get the care they need.
Previous Penn research has shown that breast
cancer survivors – the nation's largest
group of cancer survivors – give low marks
to their primary care doctors' knowledge of
late effects of cancer therapies and ways to
manage symptoms related to their disease or
its treatment.
In the new Penn study of OncoLife users,
just 13 percent said they had received
survivorship information in the past.
OncoLife care plans are available in both
English and Spanish through OncoLink (www.oncolink.org),
the Internet's first multimedia cancer
information resource, which receives 385,000
unique visitors each month.
By inputting information about the type of
chemotherapy agents patients received,
location of radiation therapies and/or types
of surgical procedures they had, patients,
family members and their doctors or nurses
can create an easy-to-understand,
personalized survivorship plan.
Among topics addressed in the plans are
potential late effects of treatments, ways
to reduce risk of and monitor for these
effects, and recommendations for future
cancer screening.
The plans also offer guidance on issues like
sexuality, fertility, and genetic risk.
"Putting survivorship care plans in the
hands of patients allows them to become
educated about their risk, have
well-informed discussions with their
healthcare teams and be advocates for their
own care," says OncoLink nurse educator
Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN, a member of
the research team.
###
PENN Medicine is a $3.6 billion enterprise
dedicated to the related missions of medical
education, biomedical research, and
excellence in patient care.
PENN Medicine consists of the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in
1765 as the nation's first medical school)
and the University of Pennsylvania Health
System.
Penn's School of Medicine is currently
ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World
Report's survey of top research-oriented
medical schools; and, according to the
National Institutes of Health, received over
$366 million in NIH grants (excluding
contracts) in the 2008 fiscal year.
Supporting 1,700 fulltime faculty and 700
students, the School of Medicine is
recognized worldwide for its superior
education and training of the next
generation of physician-scientists and
leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System
(UPHS) includes its flagship hospital, the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania,
rated one of the nation's top ten "Honor
Roll" hospitals by U.S.News & World Report;
Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first
hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical
Center.
In addition UPHS includes a primary-care
provider network; a faculty practice plan;
home care, hospice, and nursing home; three
multispecialty satellite facilities; as well
as the Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse campus,
which offers comprehensive inpatient
rehabilitation facilities and outpatient
services in multiple specialties.
The Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the
University of Pennsylvania is a national
leader in cancer research, patient care, and
education.
The pre-eminent position of the Cancer
Center is reflected in its continuous
designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center
by the National Cancer Institute for 30
years, one of 39 such Centers in the United
States.
The ACC is dedicated to innovative and
compassionate cancer care.
The clinical program, composed of a
dedicated staff of physicians, nurse
practitioners, nurses, social workers,
physical therapists, nutritionists and
patient support specialists, currently sees
over 50,000 outpatient visits, 3400
inpatient admissions, and provides over
25,000 chemotherapy treatments, and more
than 65,000 radiation treatments annually.
Not only is the ACC dedicated to providing
state-of-the-art cancer care, the latest
forms of cancer prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment are available to our patients
through clinical themes that developed in
the relentless pursuit to eliminate the pain
and suffering from cancer. In addition, the
ACC is home to the 400 research scientists
who work relentlessly to determine the
pathogenesis of cancer.
Together, the faculty is committed to
improving the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of cancer.
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