How Precision Supportive Care Personalizes Cancer Survivorship

Precision supportive care emphasizes individualized survivorship.

Precision supportive care can reshape how oncology teams approach survivorship, according to Michelle Kirschner, MSN, RN, ACNP, APRN-BC.

In an interview with Oncology Nursing News, Kirschner, who serves as the director of program development at the Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Care Professionals Network, emphasized that traditional “one-size-fits-all” models of supportive care often fail to meet the diverse needs of patients.

Instead, she advocates for precision approaches that consider individual preferences, life circumstances, and treatment experiences. For example, adolescents and young adults may benefit from peer group support, while patients in rural areas may prefer telehealth or digital tools.

She also highlighted the importance of recognizing cancer as a lifelong journey that may include relapse, chronic illness, or ongoing survivorship needs. From integrative options such as acupuncture and yoga to coaching and lifestyle medicine, Kirschner explained that nurses and advanced practice providers can help patients navigate a wide toolkit of resources.

Ultimately, Kirschner stressed that precision supportive care is about pairing the patient’s unique perspective with the provider’s clinical knowledge to deliver meaningful, individualized support throughout the continuum of care.

What is precision supportive care, and how does it fill in gaps in oncology care?

One of the blind spots that I’m seeing is this lack of what I call “precision supportive care.” We are trying to create models of support, and it’s [not] 1 option for everyone. We’re missing the point that each individual and the way they want to engage with supportive care is so different.

You can look at an adolescent and young adult patient, who’s younger and might want support more in a large social group, whereas somebody who’s in a rural environment maybe wants to go on a computer and use telehealth or virtual options.

One of the things that we need to think about is, “How can we create multiple different ways that we can support patients so each patient can find the type of support they want?” That’s important.

What does precision supportive care look like in practice?

We have all these different tools; I call it a toolkit. We have lifestyle medicine with nutrition and exercise and destressing, and we have integrative medicine with massage and acupuncture and yoga. What you want to understand for each individual is, with the toolkit, what are the things that speak to them? Then you need to make sure that you help them actualize what they need.

Coaching is an underutilized part of the team. We’re seeing more coaches that are coming alongside our patients with cancer. But [it’s about] understanding what does an individual like? What are the things that they are interested in? Then give them recommendations.

I, as a provider, will know what things are helpful based on the adverse effects that they’re having. I could then say, “OK, you’re having fatigue, and if you want to try more integrative options, acupuncture might be really helpful.”

It’s understanding things from their standpoint. I would come alongside the patient, pulling from the knowledge I have, and pair up those 2 things. That’s the precision. The patient side, and then the knowledge base on how we effectively treat those adverse effects.

Why is it important to meet patients where they are in their cancer journey?

The other part of this is the idea of cancer as a journey and understanding that it’s not just “curative treatment, and then you’re done.” You have individuals that have relapsed. What’s their experience like? They’re individuals who are living with metastatic cancer as a chronic illness. What is their experience? Cancer isn’t just “one and done.” It’s there. How do we support all those different types of journeys? It’s very fundamental.

When should nurses initiate survivorship care?

Survivorship is starting the day of diagnosis. With precision, we want to be as efficient as possible and prevent things. That’s part of the plan, but a lot of it is coming alongside the individual and understanding how they want to approach this.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.