Developing national cancer survivorship standards to inform quality of care in the United States using a consensus approach.

PURPOSE: To develop United States (US) standards for survivorship care that informs (1) essential health system policy and process components and (2) evaluation of the quality of survivorship care. METHODS: The National Cancer Institute and the Department of Veterans Affairs led a review to identify indicators of quality cancer survivorship care in the domains of health system policy, process, and evaluation/assessment. A series of three virtual consensus meetings with survivorship care and research experts and advocates was conducted to rate the importance of the indicators and refine the top indicators. The final set of standards was developed, including ten indicators in each domain. RESULTS: Prioritized items were survivor-focused, including processes to both assess and manage physical, psychological, and social issues, and evaluation of patient outcomes and experiences. Specific indicators focused on developing a business model for sustaining survivorship care and collecting relevant business metrics (e.g., healthcare utilization, downstream revenue) to show value of survivorship care to health systems. CONCLUSIONS: The National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care can be used by health systems to guide development of new survivorship care programs or services or to assess alignment and enhance services in existing survivorship programs. Given the variety of settings providing care to survivors, it is necessary for health systems to adapt these standards based on factors including age-specific needs, cancer types, treatments received, and health system resources. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: With over 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, many of whom experience varied symptoms and unmet needs, it is essential for health systems to have a comprehensive strategy to provide ongoing care. The US National Standards for Survivorship Care should serve as a blueprint for what survivors and their families can anticipate after a cancer diagnosis to address their needs.

Voices from the Field: Addressing Job Burnout in School Psychology Training Programs.

Job burnout among school psychologists represents a potentially serious issue given widespread shortages of practitioners. It is then important to identify effective strategies for both preventing and responding to feelings of burnout when they occur to ultimately ensure a healthy workforce. The current study examined written responses provided by 122 practicing school psychologists in the Southeastern United States to the question, "What do you think training programs can do about the issue of burnout in school psychology." A qualitative thematic analysis of responses resulted in the identification of three main themes: develop specific personal/professional skills, modify professional/training components, and modify administrative/organizational policies and seven associated sub-themes. Resulting themes are discussed in reference to specific recommendations training programs can take in the future to better address job burnout in the field.

Asthma and the Public School Teacher: A Two State Study.

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic health problems experienced by school-age children. As a result, school professionals need to be well informed about this chronic illness so that they can adequately support the needs of students with asthma. Methods: This study examines data collected from a sample of teachers (n = 593) in 2 large southeastern states regarding their familiarity with asthma self-carry and self-administration laws and policies and training received related to general chronic health conditions including asthma. Results: Teachers, on average, reported little training received at either undergraduate or graduate levels. Although teachers noted knowledge about asthma, acquired through in-service training or to a lesser degree formal education, a high percentage of teachers reported receiving no asthma-related training through such approaches. Conclusions: Data in this study are consistent with data collected in a similar study in 2001 suggesting that while asthma prevalence has increased, education about the condition has not. Implications for school teachers, school administrators, school nurses, teacher educators, and asthma education personnel are provided.