Exercise and the Breast Cancer Survivor: The Role of the Nurse Practitioner

Background: Patients with cancer are living longer with their disease and have improved survival rates because of early detection and more effective cancer treatments. Lifestyle modification and exercise improve clinical outcomes in breast cancer survivors. Objectives: Exercise has important implications for the survivor and should be integrated into the aftercare trajectory of survivorship. Methods: A literature review of articles published from 2002-2014 was conducted using the key words cancer survivor, survivorship, breast cancer, collaboration, and exercise. PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and CINAHL (R) databases were searched. Findings: Nurse practitioners can build an environment to motivate patients to exercise, empowering them to be active participants in their own survivorship care. Collaboration is necessary to ensure that healthy lifestyle choices, including exercise, are being discussed and implemented in survivorship care plans to help optimize patient outcomes.