Oncologists Favor Psychosocial Care, But Give It Short Shrift
Source: Oncology STAT MIAMI (EGMN) - Oncologists endorse the idea of connecting cancer patients to psychosocial care at the conclusion of active treatment. But practice doesn't align with beliefs, perhaps because they are unfamiliar with where to refer their patients for care. Among 57 oncologists who responded to a survey in the southeastern United States, 35, or 61%, considered psychosocial care to be beneficial. A majority thought it was "important" following cancer treatment, reported Laurie Freeman-Gibb at the annual conference of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS). But the oncologists said they spent just 4.2 minutes, on average, discussing psychosocial care during consultations, according to Ms. Freeman-Gibb, a lecturer in the department of nursing at the University of Windsor in Ontario, and her colleague Andrew Hatchett, Ph.D., of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's department of kinesiology. And since only about 1 in 6 oncologists responded to the survey - it was sent to 350 practitioners - the findings may present an overly optimistic picture of what happens in real-life practice when a patient leaves active treatment and returns to the community for care. "I think it's sometimes a time constraint," said Ms. Freeman-Gibb. "If you only have 20 minutes to see this person and you open the floodgates to what's really going on, you might never get out the door ... especially if you don't know whom to tell the patient to call." Dr. Hatchett said the impetus for the study was a series of conversations he had with [...]