'Doc, should I see you or my oncologist?': a primary care perspective on opportunities and challenges in providing comprehensive care for cancer survivors.

摘要

As a primary care provider, my answer to the question raised in the title of this editorial is simple: a cancer survivor should see a primary care provider. Ask an oncologist or a cancer survivor, and the answers are likely to vary. I have heard my oncology colleagues say that they enjoy "social" visits from their cancer survivors, but at the same time, they are concerned about their full schedules, which do not allow them sufficient time to see newly diagnosed patients. I have heard patients with cancer and their family members question the need to see primary care providers and ask in bewilderment which specialists they should see for their organ-related complaints. Although I have had cancer survivors who have "forgotten" about their prior cancer diagnoses, I have 5-year survivors of early breast cancer who not only see me regularly, but also seek annual visits with their oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, and gynecologists. In light of the growing number of cancer survivors, many of whom are living longer, the article by Cheung et al addressing survivorship care in this issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) is relevant and timely.