1. Clinician perspectives on delivering primary and specialty palliative care in community oncology practices.
- Author
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McLouth LE, Borger T, Hoerger M, Stapleton JL, McFarlin J, Heckman PE, Bursac V, Shearer A, Shelton B, Mullett T, Studts JL, Goebel D, Thind R, Trice L, and Schoenberg NE
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Kentucky, Attitude of Health Personnel, Adult, Surveys and Questionnaires, Practice Patterns, Physicians' statistics & numerical data, Rural Health Services organization & administration, Primary Health Care organization & administration, Palliative Care methods, Lung Neoplasms therapy, Medical Oncology methods, Medical Oncology organization & administration
- Abstract
Purpose: Clinical guidelines recommend early palliative care for patients with advanced lung cancer. In rural and underserved community oncology practices with limited resources, both primary palliative care from an oncologist and specialty palliative care are needed to address patients' palliative care needs. The aim of this study is to describe community oncology clinicians' primary palliative care practices and perspectives on integrating specialty palliative care into routine advanced lung cancer treatment in rural and underserved communities., Methods: Participants were clinicians recruited from 15 predominantly rural community oncology practices in Kentucky. Participants completed a one-time survey regarding their primary palliative care practices and knowledge, barriers, and facilitators to integrating specialty palliative care into advanced-stage lung cancer treatment., Results: Forty-seven clinicians (30% oncologists) participated. The majority (72.3%) of clinicians worked in a rural county. Over 70% reported routinely asking patients about symptom and physical function concerns, whereas less than half reported routinely asking about key prognostic concerns. Roughly 30% held at least one palliative care misconception (e.g., palliative care is for only those who are stopping cancer treatment). Clinician-reported barriers to specialty palliative care referrals included fear a referral would send the wrong message to patients (77%) and concern about burdening patients with appointments (53%). Notably, the most common clinician-reported facilitator was a patient asking for a referral (93.6%)., Conclusion: Educational programs and outreach efforts are needed to inform community oncology clinicians about palliative care, empower patients to request referrals, and facilitate patients' palliative care needs assessment, documentation, and standardized referral templates., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)
- Published
- 2024
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