DENVER – An online tool that provides cancer survivors and their family members with an easy-to-follow roadmap for managing their health as they finish treatment and transition to life as a survivor got high marks from users, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research which was presented April 19 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th Annual Meeting 2009 in Denver. Ninety-seven percent of people who used OncoLife™, the first online cancer survivorship care plan tool – developed by physicians and nurses from Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center – rated their experience with the tool as “good” to “excellent,” and 84 percent said they planned to share their plan with their health care team.
The findings reveal that OncoLife can serve as one way to fulfill the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that the 12 million cancer survivors across the United States use plans like these to become knowledgeable about the potential late effects and learn about the specialized follow-up care they’ll need following their disease.
“This tool empowers patients to open important dialogue with their healthcare providers to better understand the effects of their cancer treatment,” says James Metz, MD, an associate professor of Radiation Oncology who serves as editor-in-chief of OncoLink and the department’s Chief of Clinical Operations. “Because this tool is Internet based, cancer survivors and healthcare providers now have an easy and reliable way to obtain information regarding survivorship care issues instantaneously.”
Penn researchers surveyed 3,343 individuals who created OncoLife care plans during an 18-month period in 2007 and 2008. In addition to cancer survivors, who made up 62 percent of the OncoLife users, health care providers and family or friends of survivors also created care plans on the site. In a survey of the survivors who made OncoLife plans -- whose diagnoses included more than 34 different cac c ncers – 97 percent reported finding the information on the site to be helpful.
The researchers say the high number of users who said they planned to share their care plans with their health care providers is encouraging. Since many patients rely on their primary care physicians to deliver this multidisciplinary “survivorship care” after they’re released from treatment with oncologists, communication is essential to helping patients get the care they need. Previous Penn research has shown that breast cancer survivors – the nation’s largest group of cancer survivors – give low marks to their primary care doctors’ knowledge of late effects of cancer therapies and ways to manage symptoms related to their disease or its treatment. In the new Penn study of OncoLife users, just 13 percent said they had received survivorship information in the past.
OncoLife care plans are available in both English and Spanish through OncoLink (www.oncolink.org), the Internet’s first multimedia cancer information resource, which receives 385,000 unique visitors each month. By inputting information about the type of chemotherapy agents patients received, location of radiation therapies and/or types of surgical procedures they had, patients, family members and their doctors or nurses can create an easy-to-understand, personalized survivorship plan. Among topics addressed in the plans are potential late effects of treatments, ways to reduce risk of and monitor for these effects, and recommendations for future cancer screening. The plans also offer guidance on issues like sexuality, fertility, and genetic risk.
“Putting survivorship care plans in the hands of patients allows them to become educated about their risk, have well-informed discussions with their healthcare teams and be advocates for their own care,” says OncoLink nurse educator Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN, a member of the research team.
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PENN Medicine is a $3.6 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn's School of Medicine is currently ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's survey of top research-oriented medical schools; and, according to the National Institutes of Health, received over $366 million in NIH grants (excluding contracts) in the 2008 fiscal year. Supporting 1,700 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) includes its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, rated one of the nation’s top ten “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S.News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. In addition UPHS includes a primary-care provider network; a faculty practice plan; home care, hospice, and nursing home; three multispecialty satellite facilities; as well as the Penn Medicine Rittenhouse campus, which offers comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation facilities and outpatient services in multiple specialties.
The Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania is a national leader in cancer research, patient care, and education. The pre-eminent position of the Cancer Center is reflected in its continuous designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute for 30 years, one of 39 such Centers in the United States. The ACC is dedicated to innovative and compassionate cancer care. The clinical program, composed of a dedicated staff of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, physical therapists, nutritionists and patient support specialists, currently sees over 50,000 outpatient visits, 3400 inpatient admissions, and provides over 25,000 chemotherapy treatments, and more than 65,000 radiation treatments annually. Not only is the ACC dedicated to providing state-of-the-art cancer care, the latest forms of cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are available to our patients through clinical themes that developed in the relentless pursuit to eliminate the pain and suffering from cancer. In addition, the ACC is home to the 400 research scientists who work relentlessly to determine the pathogenesis of cancer. Together, the faculty is committed to improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.