The long-term goal of this proposed program is to facilitate cancer education outreach programs in the Rocky Mountain region which will result in a self-sustaining community-based continuing education system directed both at health care professionals and lay groups.
The specific aims of the proposed program include assessments of cancer education needs in the region, which involve a collaborative effort between the University of Colorado Cancer Center, the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, and the combined input of the Wyoming Department of Health and the Wyoming Medical Society. A centralized clearing house for developing and coordinating cancer education seminars, workshops, and short courses is available at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, the eligible applicant for this grant program. Outreach education activities will be planned and coordinated to minimize costs and provide the optimal availability of activities to potential participants and to encourage the active participation of local health care professionals and lay leaders so they may continue the activities after the period of the grant funding. Cities in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming have been grouped so outreach education teams can visit two or three cities during one trip. A multidisciplinary Advisory Subcommittee has been organized to assist in choosing sites, topics, and presenters. Schedules will be developed which allow contact between the outreach education teams and both professional and lay groups during one or two highly coordinated days. Preparatory seminars for presenters, and assistance with slides and handouts will be coordinated by two education experts on the project staff. An ongoing monitoring and evaluation program will be conducted to ensure continual evolution of the program, seeking to maintain an emphasis on cancer prevention. A second project in the program involves the production of verbatim excerpts from PDQ, the NCI cancer prognosis and treatment database. Termed PDQ in Brief, these will provide primary care physicians and nurses with readable, current information which will be distributed at no cost with the Rocky Mountain Cancer News, a bi-monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Cancer Information Service, which is mailed to all physicians and many nurses in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
