Survivorship care: essential components and models of delivery

Abstract

Cancer survivorship is now recognized as a distinct phase of cancer care, but the process of delivering survivorship care continues to emerge. Nurses often play a pivotal role during the survivorship phase by identifying patient needs and making appropriate referrals to address the range of issues that may arise. Some nurses may also be directly involved in providing survivorship-focused clinical care. Formal cancer survivorship programs have been established in some academic medical centers to address the needs of cancer survivors. Other common approaches to delivering survivorship care include oncology practice-based and community-based models. Yet, many survivors receive little or no follow-up care focused on their cancer survivorship needs. This article will review the rationale for providing specialized follow-up care for cancer survivors, describe the essential components of that care, and assess the various models that can be employed to implement cancer survivorship care delivery.