Medical and nursing education and training opportunities to improve survivorship care

Improving the quality of care for cancer survivors is contingent on having physicians, nurses, and other professionals with adequate training in survivorship care. Previous literature has documented the deficiencies in existing formal education programs regarding the complex needs of this growing population. Continuing education programs and basic curricula need to incorporate the expanding body of knowledge regarding the physiologic and psychosocial sequlae of survivorship. This article reviews the current status of survivorship education and provides direction for essential content in future education. Topics such as prevention of secondary cancers, long-term complications, rehabilitation services, quality-of-life issues, pain and symptom management, and treatment of recurrent cancer are critical competencies of education that should then become routine care for cancer survivors.