Analysis of delivery of cancer survivorship education to community healthcare professionals.

Abstract

12136 Background: There are currently 18.1 million cancer survivors in the United States; anticipated to reach 26.0 million survivors by 2040. Educational opportunities for healthcare providers in survivorship care is needed to insure capacity for this rapidly growing population particularly in the community setting. This pilot study implemented a cancer survivorship Project ECHO model in two community hospitals within a larger community health system. Methods: Providers affiliated with the Mercy Health System were enrolled in one of two cohorts. Eligible participants included physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, social workers, and dietitians. Six one-hour sessions were developed from a needs assessment and delivered over a 12-week period. Participants were invited to complete pre and post session surveys to evaluate the following 3 domains: professional improvement (PI), self-efficacy (SE), and knowledge (KN). A Likert scale was used with each survey item rated 1-5, where 1 represents lowest and 5 highest (agreement/confidence/knowledge). The average score for survey items within each domain was utilized to compare pre- and post-survey results. Results: Fourteen multidisciplinary providers were enrolled in both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2. Twenty-six completed the baseline survey and 22 completed the post-study survey. The mean change of each domain (PI, SE, KN) and mean overall change are summarized in the table. For cohort 1, the overall score significantly increased 0.94 (0.45,1.42) (P=0.0023). While the SE and KN domain scores increased significantly (1.1 (0.5,1.7), 1.03 (0.45,1.62) and p = 0.003, 0.0036, respectively), the PI did not change -0.09(p=0.726). For cohort 2, the overall score significantly increased 0.617 (0.042,1.193) (P=0.0378). While the SE and KN domain increased significantly (0.728(0.048,1.407), 0.665 (0.041,1.289) and p = 0.0379, 0.0387, respectively), the PI did not change (p=> 0.999). Conclusions: The Cancer Survivorship ECHO model may serve as a scalable strategy for building cancer survivorship care capacity in community-based oncology practices through equipping multidisciplinary teams to meet the needs of cancer survivors within their community. Further research is needed to assess implementation of this model into novel settings and evaluate its impact on patient outcomes. [Table: see text]