Pattern and Predictors of Outpatient Palliative Care Referral Among Thoracic Medical Oncologists.

CONCLUSION: The pattern of referral to outpatient palliative care varied widely among thoracic oncologists. Younger oncologists were not only referring a higher proportion of patients, but also referring patients earlier in the disease trajectory. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This retrospective cohort study found that younger thoracic medical oncologists were significantly more likely to refer patients to outpatient palliative care and to do so earlier in the disease trajectory compared with older oncologists, even after adjusting for other known predictors such as patient demographics. The findings highlight the role of education to standardize palliative care access and imply that outpatient palliative care referral is likely to continue to increase with a shifting oncology workforce. PMID: 29895629 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The Oncologist - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research