The integration of cancer survivorship training in the curriculum of hematology/oncology fellows and radiation oncology residents

Background Cancer specialists require an understanding of survivors' needs to insure optimal delivery of care. Training programs currently focus on treatment, while survivorship care focuses on time after treatment. Cancer survivorship training represents an education paradigm shift. Methods The Cancer Survivorship Workshop was held at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center of the University of Rochester in academic year 2011-2012, with six sessions held. Objectives included the following: learning about survivorship from patient, primary care physician, and oncologist perspectives using a curriculum based on survivorship literature; designing treatment summaries (TSs) and survivorship care plans (SCPs) for five malignancies (lung, breast, prostate, colon, and lymphoma); and establishing collaboration between hematology/oncology (HO) and radiation oncology (RO) trainees by working together in teams. Course impact was assessed pre-and post-training using a 13-question survey. Questions were answered using a 10-point scale, with predefined rating for each question. Results Statistically significant differences in responses to several survey questions were observed comparing pre-and post-course experience. Improvement was noted in comfort discussing survivorship issues with patients (p = 0.001), reported knowledge of survivorship care for five types of cancer (p = 0.002), confidence in ability to explain a SCP (p = 0.001), and comfort discussing late effects of cancer treatment (p = 0.001). Five unique sets of TS and SCPs were completed. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing cancer survivorship education into the curriculum of HO and RO training. Implications for Cancer Survivors The project was designed with intension to optimize survivor care through enhanced provider training.