Survivorship

Andy Miller, MHSE, CHES, Vice President of Mission for LIVESTRONG, delivered the advocacy keynote address at our second annual AONN Navigation and Survivorship Con ference in September.

The path to a survivorship program includes key elements to ensure a successful and sustainable program. At Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) we implemented these fundamentals in the development of our breast survivorship program.

Opinions are varied regarding how “survivorship” should be defined by patients and oncology specialists.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the “Cancer Survivors— United States, 2007” report.

Breast cancer accounts for 1 in every 3 cancers diagnosed in American women today. About 155,000 women are living with metastatic breast cancer in the United States, and this number is expected to increase to 162,000 in 2011.

Cancer survivors are living longer and, with more than one-third of the American population experiencing a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, it is critical to focus attention on the long-term needs of survivors.

Outcomes from the roundtable held in conjunction with the George Washington Cancer Institute Cancer Survivorship Research and Health Disparities Symposium have far-reaching implications that will impact clinical practice and how we, as clinicians, address cancer survivorship care in the future.

Patients coping with the stresses of cancer can experience depressive symptoms, with an estimated 22% to 29% of newly diagnosed patients experiencing major depressive disorder (MDD; Raison CL, Miller AH. Biol Psychiatry. 2003;54:283-294).