During your patients’ cancer treatment, you’re their lifeline. For them, it is a time with many questions. Your care gives your patients the hope and opportunity to live beyond cancer.

Unfortunately, many of these patients feel that once active care is complete, they are on their own. During treatment, they were surrounded by constant care from you and your team, but now they are alone with questions about what’s next. Survivors need to be assured the quality care they received during active treatment will continue.

A Survivorship Care Plan is a coordinated post-treatment plan between the Survivor’s oncology team, a primary care physician and other health care professionals. The oncologist creates a summary of the Survivor’s treatment and includes direction for future care.

A typical Survivorship Care Plan includes:

1. Patient diagnosis and treatment summary
2. Best schedule for follow-up tests
3. Information on late- and long-term effects of cancer treatment
4. List of symptoms to look for
5. List of support resources

This comprehensive medical summary, given to the Survivor and their primary care physician, helps support better survivorship care. The plan includes important information for monitoring possible secondary cancers and any late- or long-term effects of the Survivor’s cancer treatment. A Survivorship Care Plan also relieves a Survivor from having to recall all the details of treatment and ensures all future health care providers are working as a team for the Survivor’s care.