Transforming cancer survivorship care through quality improvement initiatives.

Oncology nurses must become better prepared to conduct quality improvement projects that will optimize quality of care and patient safety for long-term cancer survivors. The growing interest in survivorship care has led to the availability of multiple versions of cancer survivorship care plans (SCPs). Despite the availability of SCPs, research is lacking evidence-based processes to evaluate whether providers comply with planning and issuing SCPs. In the current article, the authors describe exploratory efforts to monitor the providers' compliance rate in issuing SCPs in diverse disease-specific clinics.

Lifestyle modification in cervical cancer survivors: an ongoing need.

OBJECTIVE: With the introduction of multimodality therapy for cervical cancer, many women will be long-term survivors in need of comprehensive surveillance care. Our goals were to evaluate patterns of obesity and smoking in a cohort of cervical cancer survivors and to assess the potential influence of these comorbidities on subsequent follow-up. METHODS: We reviewed the records of patients treated for invasive cervical cancer at our institution from 2000 to 2003 who had no evidence of disease for 3 or more years. Demographic and clinical data were collected, including smoking history and anthropometric measurements. Body mass index (BMI) was categorized according to World Health Organization criteria. Logistic regression and Wilcoxon rank sum analyses were performed. RESULTS: Two hundred ninety-eight women had complete follow-up data at 3 years. The median age at diagnosis was 43.5 years (range, 17.6-87.1 years). At diagnosis, 31.9% had a normal BMI, 28.2% were overweight, and 34.6% were obese compared with 31.7%, 21.1%, and 30.2% at 3 years, respectively. Of the 51 women whose BMI categorization changed, 33 (64.7%) had weight gain, and 18 (35.3%) had weight loss. By paired analyses, increase in BMI was significant over the 3-year interval (P < 0.001). Seventy patients actively smoked at diagnosis. Compared with nonsmokers, current smokers had a greater odds of referral to the pain service (odds ratio [OR], 6.56; confidence interval [CI], 6.26-16.43; P < 0.001), physical therapy (OR, 4.74; CI, 1.29-17.36; P = 0.02), and gastroenterology (OR, 2.25; CI, 1.14-4.24; P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Obesity and smoking are significant comorbidities that may complicate care in cervical cancer survivors. Interventions aimed at modifying these risk factors should be routinely undertaken in this population.

Call for action: caring for the United States' aging cancer survivors.

The United States is undergoing significant societal shifts that will have profound implications for the professional practice of oncology nurses, including the aging of the nation's baby boomers and an anticipated increase in cancer survivors. Understanding of the confluence of those factors and their impact on survivors' physical and psychological outcomes remains limited. Nurses may be aware of advances in general survivorship care but may not have the specific knowledge and skills to meet the distinctive needs of older adult cancer survivors. The authors call for a paradigm change in nursing practice, which will increase awareness across professional specialties that survivorship care for older adults is a professional obligation of all nurses.