ASPO Abstracts
A pilot intervention to understand primary care physicians' perspectives towards survivorship care in order to improve communication between primary care and oncology.
Category: Survivorship & Health Outcomes/Comparative Effectiveness Research
Conference Year: 2020
Abstract Body:
Purpose of the study: With number of cancer survivors projected to increase to 20.3 million by 2026, there is
increasing need for improved communication between oncologists and primary care providers (PCPs) to manage
the needs of cancer survivors. Survivorship care plan (SCP), is a tool for communication between oncology and
primary care. A mixed methods approach was used to assess the knowledge base of PCPs and their staff
regarding SCP, to evaluate the effect of a brief presentation and to understand primary care perspective towards
improving communication between oncology and PCPs.
Methods: A brief, in-person presentation followed by open discussion was conducted by the study team with
residents as well as faculty in family and internal medicine departments. Pre and post intervention surveys were
conducted to assess baseline knowledge and the effect of the intervention. These surveys included closed and
open-ended questions.
Results: A total of 96 individuals were surveyed (77 providers and 19 staff). In the pre-intervention survey, 63% of
providers indicated they had never received an SCP and 31% indicated they did not know what an SCP was. The
proportion of participants providing correct answers to questions in the pre-survey asking them about appropriate
content and recipients of the SCP were 62.3% and 59.7% respectively. Comparative proportions of the same
questions in the post surveys were 94.3% and 84.3%, demonstrating an effect size of 32% and 27.6%
respectively. Response to open ended questions could be classified in three groups: 1) To extend direct
communication between oncology and primary care to increase awareness, 2) SCP to be tailored to the provider
and 3) To utilize the capacities of the electronic medical record system to improve communication between
oncology and primary care.
Conclusions: There is lack of awareness among primary care providers regarding the role of survivorship care
plans. PCPs are keen to improve communication with oncology in order to optimize survivorship care.
Keywords: Survivorship care plan, cancer survivors, primary care providers