LIFE For Health Professionals

• Consultations and Referrals for Care
• Professional Training Experiences
• Providing Healthcare to Childhood Cancer Survivors 
   

About Consultations and Referrals

Patients of any age (including adults) who are survivors of childhood cancer may be referred to the LIFE Program for a comprehensive consultation.

Services will include a review of:

• Prior cancer treatment
• Current health inventory
• Physical examination
• Psychosocial assessment
• Diagnostic testing (if indicated)
• Recommendations for long-term medical monitoring
• In-depth discussion with the patient/family

Depending on the preference of the patient and referring physician, this can be a one-time evaluation or include continued annual follow-up. 

Professional Training Experiences

Health professionals interested in gaining direct experience in childhood cancer survivorship are welcome to participate in a variety of training experiences in the LIFE Program.

Clinical rotations of varied duration are available for residents and fellows in:

• Pediatrics
• Internal medicine
• Medicine-pediatrics
• Family medicine 

In addition, rotations are available for medical students; nurses; physician assistants; social workers; psychologists; and other allied professionals. 

Shorter “ambassadorships” are also available for health care administrators, planners and other hospital leadership interested in learning more about the LIFE Program or child cancer survivorship in general.

Providing Healthcare to Childhood Cancer Survivors

A great many resources are available to assist you with caring for childhood cancer survivors in your practice.

The following may be particularly useful:

1. Children’s Oncology Group Long-term Follow-up Guidelines for Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers (version 3.0).
   These clinical guidelines, based on evidence and expert consensus, are updated regularly and can assist the practitioner in understanding health-related risks of cancer treatment and recommended monitoring and preventive practices for individual patients.
   
2. National Cancer Institute—Office of Cancer Survivorship
   
3. Recent publications

• American Academy of Pediatrics (Section on Hematology/Oncology), Children’s Oncology Group. Long-Term Follow Up Care for Childhood Cancer Survivors. Pediatrics 2009; 123:906-915
• Bhatia S., & Landier, W. (2005).  Evaluating survivors of pediatric cancer.  Cancer J 2005; 11:340-354.
• Freyer DR. Preparing the childhood cancer survivor for transition of medical care: role of the pediatrician. Current Prob Pediatr Adolesc Health Care 2005; 35:209-217
• Hudson M. M. (2008).  Survivors of childhood cancer:  coming of age.  Hematol Oncol Clin N Am 2008; 22:211-231.