Having cancer changes your whole life. Regular days become challenging, and hard days become impossible. Add in the complexity of learning new medical jargon, scheduling and juggling multiple doctors’ and treatment appointments, (not to mention keeping your friends and family updated on your prognosis) and you’ve got a surefire recipe for overwhelm.
Developing a cancer care plan in partnership with your care team can be beneficial for many reasons. It can give you a sense of ownership and control over your health, keep members of your care team on the same page, and strengthen communication among the care team.
Confronting Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
From the moment of a cancer diagnosis, considerations and choices begin. Just as there are many different types of cancer, the ways each individual presents is unique and circumstantial, which is why a cancer care plan customized to you can help manage a cancer diagnosis.
While a cancer care plan is not a given, research has shown benefits to having one for the cancer care team, for the nursing team, the delivery of care, and for the patient and their family members.
In a defense of their patient-centered care approach, 4R Oncology, Christine Weldon, MBA, and Julia Trosman, PhD, used the example of a breast cancer patient receiving a genetic test to determine any genetic mutations that might increase the risk of a cancer recurrence. The results might affect the development of a breast cancer treatment plan—does the patient elect to have a double mastectomy versus single?
The National Cancer Institute also cited several studies in 2016 that espouse the benefits of palliative care alongside standard cancer treatment resulting in better patient outcomes, which can be included in a cancer care plan.
Before, During and After Treatment Plans
Cancer treatment plans can—and should—include steps and checklists that touch on before treatment, during treatment, and after treatment.
- Before treatment plans identify all the individual factors and considerations to deciding what the best approach to treatment is.
- During treatment plans touch on managing pain, tracking symptoms and medications, and then analyzing any concerning results to assess if changes to the treatment plan are needed.
- After treatment plans—sometimes called survivorship care plans—summarize key parts of the cancer diagnosis and treatment, and then offer recommended follow-up care.
For after treatment, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recognizes a cancer care plan to organize your cancer care history and then a survivorship care plan to organize information on follow-up care needed.
Care plans empower you to manage your health, encourage you to be a part of the process, and help to remove stress by taking the burden off your memory to recall what needs done and when, so you can focus on the most important part—yourself.
Tips for Managing a Nursing Care Plan for Cancer
Nurses are a major and important part of a cancer care team. As part of their professional work, nurses develop care plans for patients based on standardized plans, depending on the illness or diagnosis. According to Nurseslabs, “Nursing care plans for cancer involves assessment, support for therapies (e.g., chemotherapy, radiation, etc.), pain control, promoting nutrition, and emotional support.”
As a patient, talk to nurses involved in your cancer care to share your cancer care plan with them, ensure your plans align, and suggest you have open communication to see if adjustments need to be made along the way, and, if so, when.
Will You Need a Care Plan?
Having been through this ourselves, we know how hard it is and want to take some of the added stress off your shoulders. That’s why we, along with our Medical Review Board of oncology physicians and nurses, we created checklists with input from dozens of patients, survivors, and supporters; so you have a timeline of everything that you’ll need to accomplish as you manage your cancer diagnosis.
- Our Hospital Essentials Checklist and Before Treatment Checklist include “must have” items to bring to surgery, recommendations provided by our team as well as more than 250 patients and survivors. We also have a Questions to Ask Your Doctor checklist to collate all the important questions you might want answered in your first appointment.
- During Treatment Checklists include a symptom tracker, a pain diary, and medication tracker—all to ensure you stay on track with treatment and can identify any problem areas to bring up at your next appointment with your doctor.
- An After Treatment Care Plan keeps all of your cancer care information in one place—members of your care team, basic information about your cancer experience, recommended follow-ups and when they need to be conducted.
Cancer care plans establish the roadmap for treatment. It ensures you and your care team are on the same page and can make adjustments based on you and your needs. With all of the burdens and stress associated with a cancer diagnosis, a cancer care plan takes the guesswork out of some of the process.
It can also help your caregivers, family members and friends stay up to date with your needs and see where they can fit into the process.
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