Breast cancer survivor’s perspectives on the role different providers play in follow-up care

This qualitative study aimed to investigate breast cancer survivors preferences for who provides their follow up care. The in-depth interviews explored the breast cancer survivors’ perspectives on the goals of follow up, the preferred role for primary care providers (PCP) and the perceived roles of different types of oncologists during follow up. Survivors reported a strong preference for oncology-based follow up within the first 5 years after diagnosis, which was driven by their anxiety around cancer recurrence. However, survivors expressed that continuing to see their PCP while undergoing oncology-based cancer follow-up was important. Most survivors perceived that a standard follow-up protocol exists to guide follow up, and were comfortable deferring decisions regarding who participated in follow up to the oncology team. The use of a standard protocol as guidance for which type of oncology providers should participate in follow up would streamline care, enable shared care with PCPs and provide a significant opportunity to reduce unnecessary variation. Read the full article here