Synthesis and Analysis of Supporting Literature: The common theme noted during the literature review was a lack of high quality evidence in current oncology practice and a slow process to implement SCP’s in practice. Common implementation barriers were lack of resources and time for providers to build SCPs (Shulman et al., 2014).
Project Implementation: This doctor of nursing practice (DNP) Project was a quality improvement project that implemented SCPs within an institution that previously did not use SCPs.
Evaluation Criteria: Surveys were used as the data collection method with a non-randomized convenience sample of 27 veterans that were cancer survivors.
Outcomes: Results demonstrated clinical and statistical significance in veteran perceived knowledge after receiving a SCP in the areas of physical effects of cancer and cancer treatments. The SCP explained if the oncologist or the primary care provider handles emotional or physical concerns for the veteran. The SCP educates how to handle long-term effects of cancer treatment, and how to locate resources available to cancer survivors for financial or work related problems. There is a strong positive correlation between the sum of the post-survey scores and the sum of the satisfaction survey scores. As the perceived knowledge of veteran’s increases with SCPs, the satisfaction that veterans have with SCPs increases.
Recommendations: Survivorship care plan delivers organized post cancer treatment providing cancer survivors with education about cancer prevention, health promotion and cancer surveillance follow-up care. Timely implementation of SCPs within Oncology clinics can improve health outcomes for cancer survivors.