Understand Survivorship Care Planning

Have you finished cancer treatment (or preparing to)? You may wonder what you need to do for your follow-up care and monitoring. A survivorship care plan can help. This overview explains the basics of survivorship care planning to help you get started.

Survivorship Care Plans: What They Are & How They Can Help

Survivorship care plans focus on the need for cancer survivors and their doctors to work as a team after active treatment comes to an end. Think of a survivorship care plan as a roadmap to guide your cancer care following your cancer diagnosis and treatment. It's a great step for survivors and caregivers who have completed treatment or are nearing the completion of active treatment.

A care plan can:

• Detail your diagnosis
• Outline the treatments you have had or are currently taking
• Tell you which members of your healthcare team to contact with questions or concerns
• Explain symptoms or side effects you might experience 
• Tell you who you can call if you need help managing side effects
• Outline what you should do and who you should see for follow-up care

If you haven't already, talk with your cancer care team about developing a personalized survivorship care plan. Be sure to mention your own questions and concerns about your quality of life after treatment, and what's important to you in survivorship.

To learn more about survivorship care:

1. Consider these general tips when creating a survivorship care plan. 
2. Penn Medicine's OncoLife Survivorship Care Plan (in English & Spanish) can help you and your healthcare team create a survivorship care plan.
3. Read stories from other cancer survivors about their experiences, questions, and concerns.
4. Watch the webinar, below, to hear from a survivor and a social worker about their insights on survivorship care planning.