A new research study piloted at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley will help breast cancer survivors transition back to life after treatment.
The Oncology Nursing Society chose the Cancer Institute at NCMC as a pilot test site for a study on breast cancer survivorship quality measures.
Julianne Fritz, Banner Health regional director of oncology services, said in a prepared release that a cancer survivorship program provides care and support for the physical and emotional well being of a patient who has been diagnosed with cancer. That care and support continues even after cancer treatments have ended.
“A person will have daily or weekly visits to the cancer center and then all of a sudden they’re gone,” Micki Holladay, a nurse in the NCMC Cancer Institute, said in the release. “Then they go home to family and friends they haven’t spent time with in a while. It’s a hard transition.”
Through the study, the research team will collect data to help identify the best practices for survivorship care.
NCMC’s role will be to review and provide feedback on the breast cancer survivorship measure specifications manual, conduct retrospective review of patient records and collect and submit patient level data. The hospital also may be asked to participate in on-site reliability visits from project staff.
Areas that will be under review include: symptom assessment and intervention, post-treatment education, goal setting and attainment, follow-up care, fatigue improvement and distress improvement. NCMC will be one of 30 to 40 sites selected for the program.