Background: People with a history of breast cancer (PHBC) face a lifelong risk of treatment-related sequelae affecting their quality of life. Stakeholders advocate for improving breast cancer survivorship outcomes by increasing clinicians' knowledge of cancer survivorship issues. In Missouri, advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in nononcology settings provide routine survivorship care to PHBC; however, little is known about how they approach survivorship care planning for PHBC.
Purpose: Examine perspectives of Missouri APRNs practicing in nononcology settings about providing survivorship care to PHBC.
Methods: A combination of grounded theory and thematic analysis techniques was used for focus groups and semistructured interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using grounded theory coding methods.
Results: Nineteen nononcology Missouri-based APRNs (18 NPs, 1 CNS/DNP) shared their perspectives about managing care for PHBC. We identified four major themes. Our participants (1) attuned their baseline assessment techniques to a history of breast cancer; (2) were prepared to order additional evaluations; (3) were willing to proactively figure out next best steps for PHBC beyond theneed for breast cancer recurrence surveillance; and (4) suggest that streamlining cancer survivorship care resources would benefit both clinicians and PHBC.
Conclusions: Our findings shed light on how APRNs approach care planning for PHBC and the needs of nononcology APRNs for managing PHBC.
Implications for practice: Advanced practice registered nurses are well-positioned to improve cancer survivorship care. Increasing knowledge of cancer survivorship care guidelines could improve long-term health outcomes of PHBC. Access to cancer survivorship resources or experts via telehealth/technology for both APRNs and patients could improve survivorship care and overall health of PHBC.
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