[ Music ]
>> Hi, I'm Dr. Tanya Echols-Cole,
and I'm an oncologist.
Joining me today is Amelia Ballard,
a childhood cancer survivor who is with me to talk
about her experience with her care team.
For a patient, having a care team that works
in a coordinated informed way is key to his or her treatment
and follow-up care after treatment.
A coordinated care team can support a patient's adherence
to treatment and prevention regimens,
ensuring that cancer survivors benefit from high quality care,
and ongoing follow-up care,
and clinical surveillance after treatment.
Care coordination helps providers identify needs
for additional resources, treatment,
or supportive services.
Amelia, what doctors do you see for your follow-care,
or what healthcare providers do you see for your follow-up care?
And how do they or they don't work together
to manager your mental and physical health needs?
>> I am followed by an oncologist, a cardiologist,
and an endocrinologist.
I see each of them either annually or semiannually,
and then we also do lab work annually,
as well as bone density tests,
and other routine things just as needed.
Before I was followed by these three doctors, for 10 years,
or maybe 10 plus years I had a primary doctor that kind
of oversaw my overall healthcare.
So, this transition has been a little different going
from knowing her almost like a family member
that also was my healthcare provider,
to having three different doctors
that I don't really know that well.
And they are all very nice and they help me with my care,
but it's not that same personal intimacy that I have
with my other doctors, it's been a little bit of a transition.
Dr. Cole, I have a question for you.
I know that a lot of patients during
and after treatment have multiple providers,
and sometimes it gets overwhelming
and confusing trying to keep up with everything.
And seeing if each doctor is communicating
with each other with the best care.
How can we improve that communication and coordination
of our care with our healthcare providers?
>> For things to work best when you have multiple providers is
to make sure that each of your providers are communicating
with each other.
Each provider has a different role, and it's really important
for you as a patient to know what each provider's role is
in your follow-up care.
When providers don't talk to one another
or don't know what the other one is doing,
sometimes things get done twice,
or sometimes things get forgotten completely.
So, it's important that they communicate with each other
so that everyone's on the same page.
And that can be simply by talking to each other
if there's a multidisciplinary clinic
where they all work together, or if they're
in different institutions or --
institutions or different offices, it's important for them
to get each other's notes
so that they can see what's happening when you visit
with that other physician.
So, if they're not getting the notes ahead of time
by having the physician office fax them to them, it's important
for you to request that your physicians make sure your other
physicians get copies of your notes.
That way, everything works together,
all of your needs are being met, and nothing is forgotten.
>> You know, that's very good seeing it
from the patient perspective,
because sometimes it's a lot to remember.
And so, it's really good to know that providers do have a way
of communicating with each other, that's great.
Doctors and nurses have a real opportunity to reduce the impact
of problems like these, and help cancer survivors just
like me live happy, healthier lives.
>> Care coordination can help to improve medical management,
provide more detailed follow-up, and reveal the need
for additional resources for cancer survivors.
Engaging mental health providers as a key part
of the survivor's follow-up care team is important.
And it can assist in identifying mental health concerns,
and referring patients to treatment
and supportive surfaces when indicated.
For access to healthcare provider training resources
and information about the topics discussed,
please visit cdc.gov/cancer and chronicdisease.org.