Creating a Survivorship Care Plan
A survivorship care plan is a written document made up of two parts:
a treatment summary that describes the breast cancer’s characteristics and includes all the breast cancer treatments you’ve received, as well as the names of all the doctors and other providers you’ve seen and their contact information.
a road map of what you can expect in the years after breast cancer treatment, including any late or long-term side effects you might have, and details how your doctor plans to monitor you
After you complete your main breast cancer treatment, your doctor should give you a survivorship care plan.
Many people who’ve received certain treatments for breast cancer have a higher risk of developing other diseases as they get older, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and osteoporosis. The second part of a survivorship care plan takes this risk into account and usually includes:
a schedule for breast cancer-related follow-up care checkups
information about other health conditions to screen for and when to screen for them
a list of possible treatment side effects you might have, including any that can develop years after treatment
healthy living recommendations for your unique situation
Your cancer center or doctor’s office may not necessarily be familiar with survivorship care plans, so you may have to bring it up yourself:
Ask for a survivorship care plan in writing that explains all the medical issues you need to consider and lists which screening tests you need and when you should have them.
Ask whether your oncologist or your primary care doctor is going to be your main contact for survivorship care, and ask which member of your healthcare team you should see for each medical issue.
If your oncologist recommends you see a specialist — such as a cardiologist — and you don’t already have one, you may want to ask for a referral.
If there is anything in your survivorship care plan that you don’t understand, ask your doctor or nurse to explain it.
It’s a good idea to ask your oncologist to share your treatment summary and survivorship care plan with your primary care doctor — although many oncologists already do so automatically. Then you can review the plan and see which parts of it your primary care doctor is responsible for.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has developed survivorship care plan templates you can use as a starting point. You can also find different survivorship care plans at the American Cancer Society (ACS).
— Last updated on December 2, 2022 at 8:39 PM