Treatment summaries can help improve not only coordination of care but also survivorship care, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). It had produced a treatment plan and summary template for colorectal and breast cancer last year, but the Society has now released a generic version, which it believes can be applied to virtually any cancer.

The basic elements of the generic treatment plan and summary are designed “to improve patient treatment across health care settings by facilitating communication among oncologists, patients, and other care providers,” according to an ASCO press release. “The oncologist should complete the chemotherapy treatment plan before the patient begins receiving chemotherapy, to map out the patient’s planned treatment. After treatment is complete, the treatment summary will describe what care the patient actually received. The patient can keep these documents and share them with the doctors and other medical professionals who provide their follow-up care.” The Society indicated that it is developing ways to include these templated documents in electronic health records, which will help to provide improved sharing of patient information among the multidisciplinary treatment team.

The treatment summary and care planning template is available at www.asco.org. The Society reported that it is working to publish lung cancer templates this summer.

ASCO launches new template to document chemotherapy treatment and survivor care for cancer patients (press release). American Society of Clinical Oncology, March 18, 2008.