Survivorship Care Plan (SCP) - Do you have one?
This is a plan that combines your goals and wishes with the clinical realities - what is feasible to achieve based on the diagnosis and potential of available therapies.
Here are the basic elements of the SCP - adapted from recommendation by the Institute of Medicine:
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A concise treatment plan
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A surveillance plan - how you will be monitored over time
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Health promoting activities that are age and performance appropriate -
to help restore your abilities and improve your quality of life
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The treatment plan combines the patient's goals and wishes with the clinical realities. Therefore, the physician needs to ask questions of the patient in order to check for the patient's understanding of the clinical circumstance and provide an appropriate treatment plan.
Checklist for patient-centered medicine:
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How much would you like to know about your cancer?
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What do you know about your cancer?
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What is important to you?
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What are you hoping for?
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Now that we have discussed this, what is your understanding of your situation?
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Who are your other doctors, so that I can communicate with them?
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More on patient-centered medicine:
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American Society of Clinical Oncology - Michael L. Kappel
It's Not the Model that Matters—Still Lost in Transition ascopubs.org
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"From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor—Lost in Transition" Hewitt Google book
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