Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

The overarching goal of the course is to bring a practical approach to the care of cancer survivors to an audience of health care professionals who are working in primary care and other specialties. With 17 million cancer survivors in the US population today, it is imperative that we expand capacity to care for individuals whose health outcomes depends on the prompt recognition of treatment related toxicities and access to the best possible preventive care. There is evidence to support the fact that there is a knowledge gap about cancer survivorship among primary care physicians and this prevents them from integrating this domain of care into their practices. We surveyed existing courses and even contacted medical schools and professional societies in order to identify the needs and opportunities for engaging primary care physicians and stimulating their interest in this topic. We then based our approach on the pedagogy recommended by education experts (we consulted with the Graduate School of Education) and assembled a team of experts in cancer care and survivorship care and designed a first-in-class course that is short, engaging, relevant and we hope will be useful for learners.