At the fourth annual Breast Cancer Symposium, Lillie Shockney, an oncology nurse who is also associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, spoke about the implications of an oncologist shortage on breast cancer survivors. The number of cancer patients and survivors is rising, and breast cancer survivors account for 24 percent of all cancer survivors. Meanwhile, the predicted deficit of oncologists is 41-48 percent within ten years, according to the report.
Ms. Shockney suggested training primary care physicians, gynecologists and nurse practitioners to care for cancer survivors as a way to offset the oncologist shortage.
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