Treatment Plans, Treatment Summaries and Patient Centered Care

January 5, 2012

Treatment summaries and survivorship care plans are central components of a plan for healthy survivorship.  Many hospitals across the state with active survivorship programs are now providing such plans to cancer survivors who visit their programs.  Indeed many of these hospitals are members of the CT Challenge Survivorship Network, where the treatment summary and survivorship plan is a required element for membership.

It comes as little surprise then, if the treatment summary and survivorship plan is a critical component of quality care for a cancer survivor following their active treatment phase, that a written treatment plan would, by definition, be a critical component during the treatment phase of a patient's care.  Yet there is currently no requirement for documenting a written cancer treatment plan for patients.

Two articles provide commentary on the topic, illustrate the complexities and challenges, and help support the argument that improved planning and communication is essential to a model of patient centered care. - Julia Pemberton, Director of Public Affairs, CT Challenge

Patient-Clinician Communication, Nov. 2011 YaleCares, Editor,Thomas E. Quinn, APRN, MSN

Institute of Medicine Workshop Stresses Benefits of Patient Centered Cancer Treatment Planning, Peggy Eastman

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