 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
| News & Press |
|
August 11, 2000 For more information, call: Renée Gaines - (626) 332-2255; E-mail: mail@winabc.org
RESEARCH: "BREAST BUDDY™" PROGRAM A NEW BENCHMARK IMPROVES SATISFACTION WITH BREAST CANCER CARE Covina, CA-"You have breast cancer". These are the words a woman fears most when speaking with her doctor. Her treatment is not limited to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation if she is given some of the most important defenses for recovery: a Breast Buddy peer mentor, the proper educational materials and the resources necessary to make informed treatment decisions. Breast Buddy patient mentor volunteers and informed decision-making tools offer patients a valuable dose of "get well medicine". Psychosocial support has been proven to be an important addition to the traditional treatment protocols for breast cancer patients and can positively impact patients' quality of life and compliance with the plans for their medical care. Knowing these important factors, Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer (WIN ABC), a national organization, created the Breast Buddy( Breast Care Program in 1994 and joined forces with Kaiser Permanente (KP) in Southern California. This benchmark program combines the psychosocial support of specially trained peer mentors with an integrated team approach to the medical care of each patient. Kaiser Permanente and WIN Against Breast Cancer have just published the results of the evaluation of the first study since the Breast Buddy Program's inception. This evaluation measured the program's effectiveness with 388 women to find out whether the program worked-to determine if patients felt their medical care and support were high quality, fit their personal circumstances and met their needs. The study is published in the July/August 2000 issue of the journal Effective Clinical Practice. "71 percent of the women we talked to in Breast Buddies said they were very satisfied with their overall breast cancer care," says lead author Ann Geiger, M.P.H., Ph.D. In the control group, 56% said they were "very satisfied." "What really strikes me is that those differences were also true for how the patients felt about care they got before surgery, and about how they were told the diagnosis and how a mastectomy was explained." Two of six main program components are a breast care coordinator R.N. and the Breast Buddy peer mentor. A successful match is made with a mentor for each patient-a specially trained breast cancer survivor. The breast care coordinator helps to ensure that the newly diagnosed patient is given immediate access to psychosocial support, the proper educational materials and a peer to turn to for information and to ask questions about what they are feeling, experiencing, and what's in store for them as they head into treatment. You've heard the phrase "been there, done that". That is the approach breast cancer survivor Betsy Mullen, Founder, President/CEO of the WIN organization, took to create the Breast Buddyâ Breast Care Program in 1994. This nationally acclaimed program of excellence combines the psychosocial support of specially trained peer mentors with an integrated team approach to the comprehensive medical care, education and support of each patient. Betsy Mullen was a Kaiser Permanente member in 1992 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33. She saw where breast cancer care could be enhanced and teamed up with her plastic surgeon, Brad Edgerton, M.D. Together, the two worked to alert KP to potential improvements in its care of breast cancer patients, formed WIN ABC and created the Breast Buddy Breast Care Program. "Kaiser Permanente shared our vision to meet the complex needs of breast cancer patients and shared in our efforts to form an integrated and improved standard of care," says program co-founder and co-author Betsy Mullen. The Breast Buddy Program received national recognition as a new standard of breast cancer care from the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) in 1998. The AAHP established the Breast Buddy Program as an "exemplary practice...an outstanding women's health program that really is making a difference in improving women's health." "The Breast Buddy Program establishes a new paradigm of breast cancer care. The program empowers breast cancer patients to learn about the complexities of their treatment options and then effectively partner with their health care team to combat the disease. Each patient's education is enhanced by interaction with her Breast Buddy peer mentor, which has the additional benefit of providing compassionate support for the year-long period of surgery, reconstruction, chemotherapy and emotional healing," says program co-founder and co-author, Brad Edgerton, M.D. The WIN organization is now taking steps to bring the Breast Buddy Breast Care Program into the lives of uninsured and medically underserved patients throughout California. The Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer is a national nonprofit organization established to collaborate with the health care community, the research community, policy makers and the public in addressing the complex medical and psychosocial issues facing breast cancer patients from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in order to establish improved standards of care and access to quality care. The Breast Buddy Breast Care Program™ is WIN ABC's signature program. Currently there are over 150 Breast Buddy patient mentor volunteers based in California, serving patients across the United States.
Ann Geiger, Ph.D. can be reached at Kaiser Permanente at (626) 564-3421 or Ann.M.Geiger@kp.org Last Updated: 10/05/2003 |
|
Copyright 2003 Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer. Email: mail@winabc.org
Phone: 626-332-2255 Toll Free (U.S. Only) 866-2WINABC (866-294-6222). Terms
of Use. Privacy
Policy. |