| Sumario: | Significance & Background: Prostate cancer survivors post-radiation often experience urinary, bowel, sexual, and emotional side effects that impact quality of life. National survivorship guidelines emphasize functional assessment, supportive care, and care coordination, but implementation in radiation oncology remains inconsistent, leaving many patients with unmet needs. Prior to this project, no structured survivorship clinic existed in radiation oncology at this institution, highlighting a gap in care and an opportunity for oncology nursing leadership. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to establish and expand an advanced practice provider (APP)-led survivorship clinic tailored to prostate cancer patients following radiation therapy. Objectives included improving continuity of care, standardizing survivorship planning, providing education, and addressing supportive needs such as sexual health, nutrition, exercise, and symptom management. Interventions: The clinic launched in 2021 following APP survivorship training. Initially limited to high-risk patients of one physician at one campus, it later expanded to include all prostate cancer patients of three oncologists across two campuses. Survivorship visits were embedded into the first post-treatment follow-up and included PSA surveillance, individualized care plans, symptom assessment, education, and referrals for sexual health, pelvic floor therapy, nutrition, and psychosocial support. While the APP follows other disease sites, structured survivorship planning is currently limited to prostate cancer. Results: The first visits occurred in January 2021 and April 2022 at the second campus. Patient volumes increased from 55 in 2020 to 162 in 2025, a 194% rise. Cumulative volumes totaled 576 across sites, with significant year-over-year growth (p < 0.01). Most patients were >65 (83%), White (64%), and married (71%), 15% were Asian and <1% Black. A majority were retired or unemployed (62%), and 37% reported tobacco use. In addition to disease monitoring, nursing interventions provided education and facilitated timely referrals, closing care gaps. Discussion: This APP-led survivorship clinic represents the first structured, prostate cancer-specific model within radiation oncology at this institution. Unlike traditional follow-up focused only on disease monitoring, this model integrates PSA surveillance, survivorship plans, and multidisciplinary referrals, advancing oncology nursing's role in survivorship care. Its success prompted creation of an APP Survivorship Taskforce in 2024 to expand across other cancers. Limitations include lack of standardized outcome measures to evaluate symptom and quality-of-life impact, which remain priorities for future development. Supported institutionally, this framework demonstrates scalability, nursing innovation, and advancement in survivorship care delivery.
|
|---|