Updated: May 7, 2012

The Consortium will have many potential benefits. First and foremost, it will have a significant impact on the quality of life and/or lessening of the burden of cancer on survivors and their families through innovative research and knowledge translation that will result in better clinical outcomes. Second, the Consortium will enable professionals to contribute to survivorship through coordination, communication, collaboration and sharing of best practices. Third, the Consortium will ensure that health professionals, policy makers and survivors are an integral part of each research project thus best positioning the application of research outcomes into programs that enhance patient-centered care.

Essentially the Consortium will enable the:

• Creation of new knowledge that address the current gaps in cancer survivorship;
• Collaboration of researchers, health care professionals, patients, policy makers and health care administrators;
• Collection and sharing of evidence that will help health care providers and patients make decisions about treatment options;
• Tailoring of treatments and therapies to maximize cure and minimize adverse treatment-related effects; and
• Development and dissemination of evidence-based interventions that reduce cancer morbidity and mortality and improve quality of care.

The Consortium will work to achieve these benefits through strategic leadership, cutting-edge research, and an integrated partnership with its members and multidisciplinary stakeholders to translate new knowledge and develop programs that will deliver the best and most effective survivorship care in the health care system. Bringing researchers across Canada together to discuss innovative research ideas, pool resources, and advance research in priority areas will allow for capacity building on a scale otherwise not possible.

The Cancer Knowledge Network

Established in April, 2011 the Cancer Knowledge Network (CKN) is an online community that was created as an extension of the parent journal Current Oncology. This website is the first of its kind in Canada and is intended to be shared among all healthcare providers specializing in oncology as well as family physicians and caregivers dedicated to the care of cancer patients, both in Canada and beyond. The CKN is divided into three sections, each one catering to a different demographic that falls within the spectrum of cancer care and treatment. These demographics are:

• Medical professionals;
• Cancer patients, survivors and caregivers; and
• Oncology residents and medical students.

The CKN is an invaluable, interactive educational resource for Canadian oncologists and all other healthcare professionals active in the oncology field. Links to recently published content from Current Oncology allows for deeper engagement with the subject matter and the papers’ authors.

An agreement has been reached between the Consortium and Multimed, a Canadian-based international medical publishing and marketing corporation, to provide the creation of a website specific to Cancer Survivorship located within the Cancer Knowledge Network (CKN). The CKN and the Journal of Current Oncology would assist in building awareness of the Consortium and its work though online promotion and, when applicable, print promotion, including the publication of relevant peer-reviewed papers. Both the CKN and the Journal shall be regarded as a resource that provides an “online shell” with an established audience and network. Ultimately, CKN and the Consortium will collaboratively develop practical applications and programs specializing in survivorship for both professional and patient use, emanating from the work and recommendations of the Consortium.

Questions or Comments may be directed to:
Winnie Chan
Tel: 604-827-5455
Email: winnie.chan@ubc.ca

Provincial Survivorship Project Working Groups
February 29, 2012
This article also appears in Issue 16 of the Connections Newsletter

As a result of treatment modality, type of cancer, and individual characteristics, there is considerable variability in the well-being of cancer survivors. While some survivors remain disease-free for the rest of their lives, others experience challenges, manifesting in physical, psychosocial and functional domains that impact their overall quality of life. Chief among these issues are a fear of cancer recurrence, fatigue, pain, and cognitive limitations. Taking center stage, therefore, is the need for support as cancer survivors make their transition from active treatment to post-treatment life in their communities.

Recognizing the importance of this matter, the BC Cancer Agency engaged patients and experts in cancer care and research in discussions to identify immediate priority areas under the umbrella term: Transitioning Care. Consequently, working groups, consisting of leaders in the fields of cancer research, oncology, nutrition, nursing, family practice, and psychology were formed to address four areas of need in this transitioning care trajectory. These four working groups and their projects are described below.

Care Planning
Team leads: Amanda Ward, PhD and Frances Wong, MD

This theme area concentrates on the development and evaluation of care plans for survivors. Care plans are brief documents written in an easy-to-understand language that contain critical information essential to the coordination of services for survivors’ long-term care. Components of a care plan include the type of cancer experienced, the modes of treatments received, potential consequences of this treatment, and information regarding access to relevant psychosocial services in the community.

Post-treatment Assessment
Team leads: Wolfgang Linden, PhD and Ryna Levy-Milne, PhD

This theme area focuses on the development of a post-treatment assessment that explores and accurately documents the physiological and psychosocial needs of cancer survivors following treatment. Such a tool is essential to preparing patients for life as a survivor by identifying the difficulties they face and ensuring that they receive the appropriate follow-up services.

Post-treatment Intervention
Team leads: Gina MacKenzie, MSW and Mary Flaherty, MSc

The aim of this group is to design and evaluate interventions that help survivors return to capacity by providing them with relevant knowledge and skills, thus empowering them to take control of their own transition phase. One such project involves the development and evaluation of a Returning to Work educational resource. Given the many challenges that survivors face as they return to work following active cancer treatment, challenges which include long-term and late effects and workplace support (or a lack thereof), this educational resource would prove invaluable to minimizing survivors’ lost attachment to the workplace and reducing time off work.

Primary Care/Oncologist Post-treatment Summary
Team leads: Phil White, MD and Rob Olson, MD

This theme area concentrates on the development of an oncologist post-treatment summary, a tool that oncologists can use to communicate patients’ health information to family physicians following active treatment, thus enhancing the handoff between the healthcare professionals. As a result, the follow-up care information and services that survivors receive are more continuously coordinated.

For more information, please contact James Tanliao at jtanliao@bccancer.bc.ca.

Latest Publications & Reports

NEW! Doll, R., Kazanjian, A., Smillie, K., Ward, A., & Chasen, M. (2012). A call for action in survivorship research and care. Current Oncology, 19, 16-20.  (507 KB) 

NEW! Fillion, L., Cook, S., Veillette, A.M., de Serres, M., Aubin, M., Rainville, F., Fitch, M. & Doll, R. (2012). Professional navigation framework: Elaboration and validation in a Canadian context. Oncology Nursing Forum, 39 (1), E58-E69. doi:10.1188/12.ONF.E58-E69 (323 KB) 

Fillion, L., Cook, S., Veillette, A.-M., de Serres, M., Aubin, M., Rainville, F., Fitch, M. & Doll, R. (2011). Implementation of screening for distress with professional cancer navigators. Oncologie [Dossier Après Cancer], 13, 277–289. doi:10.1007/s10269-011-2026-8  (176KB) 

Kazanjian, A., Doll., R., & Smillie, K. (Eds.) (2011). Fostering cancer survivorship research in Canada: Building capacity through a research consortium. Pan-Canadian Invitational Workshop: Proceedings report. Vancouver, BC.  (1223 KB) 

Kazanjian, A., Smillie, K., Howard, A., Ward, A., & Doll, R. A structured approach to knowledge exchange: Understanding the implementation of a cancer survivor program, European Journal of Oncology Nursing (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2011.09.002  (271KB) 

Verde, M., Shervill, L., Foreman, J., & Ward, A. (2010). Addressing barriers to palliative care services in Northwest BC first nations communities.  (337 KB) 

Ward, A. (2010). Cancer Transitions: A supportive care program for cancer survivors. Oncology Exchange, 9(2), 12-14.  (234 KB) 

Ward, A. (2010). Cancer Survivorship: creating uniform and comprehensive supportive care programming in Canada- Cancer Transitions: Moving Beyond Treatment. This report was prepared for The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.  (663 KB) 

For articles published before 2010, please proceed to Publications.