The Pink Ribbon Survivors Network: An Internet resource for breast cancer survivorship education for patients and the health care providers that care for them.

Abstract

329 Background: The authors identified a need to provide three online tools for the benefit of breast cancer survivors and health care providers: 1) An online collection of relevant publications from all cancer specialties regarding breast cancer survivorship housed in one virtual library. 2) An online collection of guidelines and relevant publications as a resource for primary care providers to access clinical information on medical care and psychosocial issues regarding breast cancer survivorship. 3) An online collection of resources, organizations, and supportive programs and selected readings for breast cancer survivors. These readings would be organized in a "Curriculum for Recovery" Library. We were motivated by the belief that, "all breast cancer survivors are underserved, if their healthcare providers are undereducated." Methods: Using the Joomla software system, a free, online website has been developed. This site houses the three virtual libraries, on separate landing pages, described above. Additional resources for breast cancer survivors are also housed on the website. Results: The Pink Ribbon Survivors Network now provides a resource of over 500 separate listings designed to educate and support breast cancer survivors, and health care professionals. The online professional libraries were created from abstracts available from medical journals and similar mainstream oncology publications. The libraries are continuously updated with new publications. These collective libraries will serve as unique breast cancer survivorship tools for women and their health care providers, for new publications, and for resources. Conclusions: This abstract establishes that a system using internet technology can provide virtual resources for breast cancer survivors, cancer specialists, and primary health care providers. This is now a functional online system for the 2.5 million breast cancer survivors and nearly 500,000 health care providers involved in the care of these survivors. The organization’s website is www.PinkRibbonSurvivorsNetwork.org.