Aims: To assess the uptake and quality of survivorship care plans (SCPs) and treatment summaries (TSs), and providers and survivors’ perception of their utility.
Methods: As part of the development of the South Australian state-wide survivorship care framework, health providers delivering cancer care were invited to take part in an intervention pilot consisting of a nurse-led survivorship consultation and development of SCPs and TSs. Participants were supported by standardized tools, templates, and access to a professional network. Clinicians were encouraged to adapt the intervention into their existing practice. Demographic characteristics of survivors and process measures were collected. Outcomes included number of SCPs/TSs developed, completeness of information and quality of recommendations. Qualitative and quantitative feedback was sought from survivors and providers.
Results: Four teams comprising a nurse and a medical oncologist nominated to undertake a three-month pilot. 43 plans were developed (range 0-34). Median age of survivors was 59 (32-80), 36 (84%) were women and 32 (74%) had a breast cancer diagnosis. The average time required to prepare TS and SCP was 154 minutes (120-240). TSs had high level of completeness. The median number of issues identified in SCPs was 5.9 (3 - 11). All SCPs included cancer surveillance, only 20 (47%) included lifestyle recommendations. The quality of strategies was ranked low-moderate. Feedback from providers and survivors is currently being analysed and will be reported on at the time of presentation.
Conclusions: This work demonstrates the implementation gap between the theory and practice of survivorship care with high variation in uptake and quality of the intervention across four sites. While content accuracy was high, the quality of recommendations varied, which may reflect a training need. Ongoing trialing and re-evaluation of process and outcomes are required to refine the intervention to ensure high quality survivorship care.