Abstract
Aim
There is a growing population of lung cancer survivors who may have unmet physical, psychological, and practical needs as they transition from active treatment into recovery. The specific needs and best ways to meet them are unclear in this population. This paper describes the development and outcomes of a program aimed to transition patients to survivorship.
Subject and methods
Patients with early-stage lung cancer were assessed for the presence and severity of unmet physical, psychological, and practical needs at the end of active treatment. Patients also attended a multidisciplinary clinic visit to create an individualized survivorship care plan and provide appropriate referrals. They were surveyed 3 months later to assess effectiveness of the program.
Results
Eighty-four participants were enrolled in the program. All reported at least one unmet need, with a mean of seven unmet needs, particularly related to breathing, fatigue, pain, and fear/anxiety. Following program participation, there were fewer and/or less severe needs.
Conclusions
The Bridge program identified and decreased the number and severity of unmet needs through connecting survivors to local resources. Challenges to program implementation included hesitancy of providers to refer, time constraints of survivors and staff, and lack of community resources, especially for identified mental health needs.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the cancer center staff at United Hospital Center and the Charleston Area Medical Center for their collaboration in this project.
Funding
This study was funded by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (grant no. 17-132).
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None of the authors have any declarations of conflict of interest related to this work.
Ethical approval
This project was reviewed and approved by the West Virginia University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (protocol no. 1612405699). Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to any data collection.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Anne K. Swisher, Stephenie Kennedy-Rea, Abby Starkey, and Adrienne Duckworth. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Anne K. Swisher and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Swisher, A.K., Kennedy-Rea, S., Starkey, A. et al. Bridging the gap: identifying and meeting the needs of lung cancer survivors. J Public Health (Berl.) 30, 607–612 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01332-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01332-w