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Quality of life and satisfaction among prostate cancer patients followed in a dedicated survivorship clinic.
- Source :
- Cancer (0008543X); May2015, Vol. 121 Issue 9, p1484-1491, 8p
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- BACKGROUND Integrating quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes into clinics may assist providers in identifying and responding to problems experienced by cancer survivors. To date, however, patient-reported outcomes (PROs) such as QOL are used infrequently to guide care. We integrated QOL assessments into a prostate cancer survivorship clinic and compared recovery and satisfaction among men managed in the survivorship clinic with those followed with more routine care. METHODS We conducted a before-after study comparing 235 men treated surgically for prostate cancer who received routine follow-up care with 102 men managed in a survivorship clinic characterized by point-of-care QOL reporting and integration of QOL scores (EPIC) following radical prostatectomy. We then assessed baseline and postprostatectomy QOL at 6 and 12 months, as well as patient satisfaction, and compared outcomes between groups. RESULTS Although baseline QOL was comparable, scores were generally higher among the survivorship group at 6 months and 1 year compared with those followed with routine care. In particular, sexual function scores were significantly higher among patients managed in the survivorship clinic (52.2 vs 33.6 at 1 year, P < .01). Satisfaction scores were consistently higher in the survivorship clinic group compared with the routine-care group (all P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Patient QOL and satisfaction were higher among men managed in a survivorship program, suggesting that disease-specific survivorship clinics that integrate QOL reporting into care pathways may yield better outcomes compared with less tailored approaches to patient care following cancer therapy. Cancer 2015;121:1484-1491. © 2014 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0008543X
- Volume :
- 121
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Cancer (0008543X)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 102201776
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.29215