Abstract ADV15: Survivors teaching students: Saving women's lives program.

Abstract

Abstract Since 2002, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance has been working to save women's lives by helping health care practitioners learn to diagnose ovarian cancer earlier through the Survivors Teaching Students: Saving Women's Lives® (STS) Program. The program brings ovarian cancer survivors into the classrooms of medical schools, nursing schools, nurse practitioners and physician assistant programs to inform students about real women's experiences with the disease. Each woman who presents has a unique story. These women_many diagnosed at an advanced stage_are in a distinct position to help students become more sensitive to the disease's symptoms and risk factors that, in turn, can result in an earlier diagnosis. The STS program is currently presented in 74 medical schools nationwide, 3 nurse practitioner programs, 12 physician assistant programs, 42 nursing schools and 13 other allied health professional schools across the country. Awareness of symptoms and risk factors is one of the only tools available to women and their physicians which may lead to earlier diagnosis. Evaluation of the Survivors Teaching Students program has revealed that the students who have attended an STS presentation have an increased awareness of the symptoms and risk factors of ovarian cancer and when asked about the program after they entered medical practice, the respondents remembered the information they had learned in these presentations and felt it had impacted the ways in which they treated women presenting with these symptoms. Citation Format: Susan L. Leighton. Survivors teaching students: Saving women's lives program. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr ADV15. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-ADV15