Survivorship Fellowship: Evaluation and Evolution of a Program for Advanced Practice Providers

A comprehensive cancer center in the midwestern United States implemented a stakeholder-engaged quality improvement process to extend its existing one-year advanced practice provider (APP) fellowship program consisting of general oncology education and clinical experience to include an additional survivorship clinical rotation. APP fellowship alumni and program stakeholders reported noticeable benefits and greater importance attributed to program participation, validating inclusion of a survivorship clinic rotation as part of the fellowship program.

AT A GLANCE

• APPs, particularly those with limited oncology experience, should have the opportunity to learn about the oncology-specific needs and care of cancer survivors across the continuum of cancer care.
• Implementing a cancer survivorship rotation into an APP oncology fellowship curriculum is feasible.
• Program outcomes suggest APP fellowship alumni may be better able to manage the complex concerns of cancer survivors than their peers who lack such education.