What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences
AbstractObjective Diagnosis of cancer is challenging in primary care due to the low incidence of cancer cases in primary care practice. A prolonged diagnostic interval may be due to doctor, patient or system factors, or may be due to the characteristics of the cancer itself. The objective of this st...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2023.2296117 |
| _version_ | 1797299973900992512 |
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| author | Tuomas H. Koskela Magdalena Esteva Marcello Mangione Sara Contreras Martos Senada Hajdarevic Cecilia Högberg Mercè Marzo-Castillejo Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza Vija Siliņa Michael Harris Davorina Petek |
| author_facet | Tuomas H. Koskela Magdalena Esteva Marcello Mangione Sara Contreras Martos Senada Hajdarevic Cecilia Högberg Mercè Marzo-Castillejo Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza Vija Siliņa Michael Harris Davorina Petek |
| author_sort | Tuomas H. Koskela |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | AbstractObjective Diagnosis of cancer is challenging in primary care due to the low incidence of cancer cases in primary care practice. A prolonged diagnostic interval may be due to doctor, patient or system factors, or may be due to the characteristics of the cancer itself. The objective of this study was to learn from Primary Care Physicians’ (PCP) experiences of incidents when they had failed to think of, or act on, a cancer diagnosis.Design A qualitative, online survey eliciting PCP narratives. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Setting and subjects A primary care study, with narratives from 159 PCPs in 23 European countries.Main outcome measures PCPs’ narratives on the question ‘If you saw this patient with cancer presenting in the same way today, what would you do differently?Results The main themes identified were: thinking broadly; improvement in communication and clinical management; use of other available resources and ‘I wouldn’t do anything differently’.Conclusion (Implications) To achieve more timely cancer diagnosis, PCPs need to provide a long-term, holistic and active approach with effective communication, and to ensure shared decision-making, follow-up and continuing re-assessment of the patients’ clinical conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:59:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b71ed9c54e484fca8c4843086bfc0ef0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0281-3432 1502-7724 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:59:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care |
| spelling | doaj.art-b71ed9c54e484fca8c4843086bfc0ef02024-02-22T15:18:19ZengTaylor & Francis GroupScandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care0281-34321502-77242024-01-0142112313110.1080/02813432.2023.2296117What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiencesTuomas H. Koskela0Magdalena Esteva1Marcello Mangione2Sara Contreras Martos3Senada Hajdarevic4Cecilia Högberg5Mercè Marzo-Castillejo6Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza7Vija Siliņa8Michael Harris9Davorina Petek10Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, FinlandHealth Research Institute of the Balearic Islands (IdISBa), Palma, SpainLocal Health Authority Committee, Palermo City, ItalyResearch Support Unit Metropolitana Sud, University Institute for Primary Health Care Research IDIAPJordi Gol, Catalan Health Institute, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Nursing, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Unit of Research, Education and Development Östersund, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenResearch Support Unit Metropolitana Sud, University Institute for Primary Health Care Research IDIAPJordi Gol, Catalan Health Institute, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Family Medicine, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, PolandDepartment of Family Medicine, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, LatviaInstitute of Primary Health Care Bern (BIHAM), University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaAbstractObjective Diagnosis of cancer is challenging in primary care due to the low incidence of cancer cases in primary care practice. A prolonged diagnostic interval may be due to doctor, patient or system factors, or may be due to the characteristics of the cancer itself. The objective of this study was to learn from Primary Care Physicians’ (PCP) experiences of incidents when they had failed to think of, or act on, a cancer diagnosis.Design A qualitative, online survey eliciting PCP narratives. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Setting and subjects A primary care study, with narratives from 159 PCPs in 23 European countries.Main outcome measures PCPs’ narratives on the question ‘If you saw this patient with cancer presenting in the same way today, what would you do differently?Results The main themes identified were: thinking broadly; improvement in communication and clinical management; use of other available resources and ‘I wouldn’t do anything differently’.Conclusion (Implications) To achieve more timely cancer diagnosis, PCPs need to provide a long-term, holistic and active approach with effective communication, and to ensure shared decision-making, follow-up and continuing re-assessment of the patients’ clinical conditions.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2023.2296117Cancerdiagnostic errorsEuropeprimary care physiciansprimary health carequalitative research |
| spellingShingle | Tuomas H. Koskela Magdalena Esteva Marcello Mangione Sara Contreras Martos Senada Hajdarevic Cecilia Högberg Mercè Marzo-Castillejo Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza Vija Siliņa Michael Harris Davorina Petek What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care Cancer diagnostic errors Europe primary care physicians primary health care qualitative research |
| title | What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences |
| title_full | What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences |
| title_fullStr | What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences |
| title_full_unstemmed | What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences |
| title_short | What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences |
| title_sort | what would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis learning lessons from their experiences |
| topic | Cancer diagnostic errors Europe primary care physicians primary health care qualitative research |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2023.2296117 |
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