Patient satisfaction with breast and colorectal cancer survivorship care plans

Abstract

Cancer survivors face several challenges following the completion of active treatment, including uncertainty about late effects of treatment and confusion about coordination of follow-up care. The authors evaluated patient satisfaction with personalized survivorship care plans designed to clarify those issues. The authors enrolled 48 patients with breast cancer and 10 patients with colorectal cancer who had completed treatment in the previous two months from an urban academic medical center and a rural community hospital. Patient satisfaction with the care plan was assessed by telephone interview. Overall, about 80% of patients were very or completely satisfied with the care plan, and 90% or more agreed that it was useful, it was easy to understand, and the length was appropriate. Most patients reported that the care plan was very or critically important to understanding an array of survivorship issues. However, only about half felt that it helped them better understand the roles of primary care providers and oncologists in survivorship care. The results provide evidence that patients with cancer find high value in personalized survivorship care plans, but the plans do not eliminate confusion regarding the coordination of follow-up care. Future efforts to improve care plans should focus on better descriptions of how survivorship care will be coordinated.

FIGURE 1

Understanding Specific Elements of Care Through the Cancer Survivorship Plan (N = 58)