Improving care for intensive care survivors and their families requires collaboration between practitioners and researchers in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Strategies were developed to address the major themes arising from the conference to improve outcomes for survivors and families.
Raising awareness of post-intensive care syndrome for the public and both critical care and non-critical care clinicians will inform a more coordinated approach to treatment and support during recovery after critical illness. Continued conceptual development and engagement with additional stakeholders is required.
Medical oncologists and rehabilitation physicians share many similar attitudes with regard to the referral and acceptance of patients with advanced cancer for rehabilitation services. However, medical oncologists see prognosis as a more significant barrier to rehabilitation services than do rehabilitation physicians. Rehabilitation physicians are more likely to believe that the patients with advanced cancer for whom they care do not adequately understand their prognosis.
In this article, the subject of the future for the field of cancer rehabilitation is embarked upon. Future practice innovation models must involve the appropriate and comprehensive evaluation of cancer patients' rehabilitation needs using better functional measurement tools, as well as the forging of new partnerships through the presence and initiation of physiatric coordinated rehabilitation teams, particularly during the acute phases of treatment. Partnering rehabilitation teams closely with oncology colleagues during surveillance years, through the development of outpatient survivorship clinics for diagnosis and treatment of many of cancer patients' ongoing symptoms and functional limitations, will allow for more comprehensive and coordinated follow-up cancer care. Integration of rehabilitation into palliative care and continued efforts to increase oncology's awareness and acceptance of rehabilitation benefits and expertise are needed. Future education models for medical school, residency, and postresidency training are discussed, as are future research goals to help in placing cancer rehabilitation at the forefront of acute cancer care and survivorship care.
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