Oncology fellows’ survivorship clinic: An opportunity for education and multidisciplinary care delivery.

Authors

Hira Latif

Hira Latif

Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC

Hira Latif , Kristi D Graves , Asma Ali Dilawari

Organizations

Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Fisher Center for Hereditary Cancer and Clinical Genomics Research, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, MedStar Washington Cancer Institute, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC

Research Funding

No funding received
None

Background: Cancer survivors in the U.S. are expected to exceed 20 million by 2026. Most fellows do not receive formal training in survivorship during oncology fellowship despite cancer survivorship comprising 2% of the American Board of Internal Medicine's Oncology examination and the recent accreditation standards related to survivorship care from the Commission on Cancer. Methods: We developed a survivorship curriculum and a multidisciplinary survivorship clinic staffed by a medical oncologist and physiatrist in September 2018. Oncology fellows rotated during their ambulatory block and completed surveys assessing skills and perceptions of competence at the beginning and end of the academic year. Results: 8 fellows completed the pre-survey and 6 of them completed the post-survey. While only a quarter had delivered a survivorship care plan/treatment summary prior to starting clinic, all fellows had delivered these (median=2, range=2-8) at the end of the year. Most fellows had seen survivors of breast, colorectal and hematologic malignancies prior to starting clinic; few had seen survivors with lung (12.5%), GU (0%) or head and neck (25%) cancer. These numbers increased, particularly with fellows’ seeing survivors of GU (50%) and head and neck cancers (100%) at the end of the year. Prior to the rotation less than half the fellows had assisted with managing cancer survivors’ treatment consequences or provided continuity of care through a multidisciplinary team. Similarly, only 25% had counseled cancer survivors with psychosocial concerns. On the post-survey, 100% of fellows reported practicing and feeling experienced in these domains. Post- survey showed improvement in self-reported competence levels in caring for cancer survivors (see Table). Conclusions: Participating in a survivorship clinic has a positive impact on oncology fellows’ experience and competence in caring for cancer survivors. Future directions are geared toward expansion of fellows’ skills to include areas related to cardiovascular and physical medicine.

Median scores for fellows’ self-reported level of competence in caring for cancer survivors using a Likert scale of 1-5. (1: very unskilled to 5: very skilled).

Pre-SurveyPost-SurveyP- Value
Provide current cancer information at the
appropriate level
340.070
Provide a treatment summary and
survivorship care plan
240.028
Identify people at high risk of
cardiovascular complications due to their
cancer treatment
340.064
Work with a multidisciplinary specialty team
to provide continuity of care
24.50.038

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Professional Development and Education Advances

Track

Medical Education and Professional Development

Sub Track

Education Research

Citation

J Clin Oncol 38: 2020 (suppl; abstr 11023)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.11023

Abstract #

11023

Poster Bd #

280

Abstract Disclosures

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