Theme: Cancer Rehabilitation
Mary Vargo, MD
Faculty
Case Western Reserve University (MetroHealth) PM&R Program
Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Sean Smith, MD
Associate Professor
University of Michigan PM&R Program
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Eric Wisotzky, MD
Chief, Division of Rehabilitation Medicine
Medstar Health/Georgetown-National Rehabilitation Hospital PM&R Program
Washington, District of Columbia
Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Lisa Ruppert, MD, FAAPMR
Assistant Attending Physiatrist
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Disclosure information not submitted.
Samman Shahpar, MD
Attending Physician
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Chicago, Illinois
Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Cancer rehabilitation medicine is one of the fastest-growing areas within physical medicine and rehabilitation. Many factors contribute to its growth including, advances in cancer care which prolong life and cure disease, an aging, multi-morbidity population developing cancer, and emerging treatments with toxic side effects that may cause disablement and impairment. Unfortunately, there are no agreed-upon educational standards to ensure that rehabilitation physicians receive appropriate training to manage these complex patients, whose needs may change rapidly with their disease and/or new cancer treatments. Additionally, cancer rehabilitation practice patterns vary widely between and within nations. These variations create further challenges to ensuring adequate exposure and preparation for learners.
To address these challenges, a group of rehabilitation medicine physicians from eight different institutions engaged in a systematic process to determine the necessary core elements for training physiatrists in cancer rehabilitation medicine – both for general rehabilitation physicians and those wishing to sub-specialize in cancer rehabilitation medicine specifically.
First, common, essential elements of cancer rehabilitation care were identified. These were then categorized as managed by “all rehabilitation physicians” or “cancer rehabilitation specialists.” Categories highlighted which cancer-related impairments required a sub-specialist to manage appropriately. Physicians further acknowledged that the level of required knowledge might vary within these categories and therefore labeled them with “Beginner,” “Intermediate,” and “Advanced” classifications.
This presentation reports on the process and outcomes of this project to reach a broad audience and work towards establishing an international standard for cancer rehabilitation education.