TY - JOUR
T1 - How European primary care practitioners think the timeliness of cancer diagnosis can be improved
T2 - a thematic analysis
AU - Harris, Michael
AU - Thulesius, Hans
AU - Neves, Ana Luisa
AU - Harker, Sophie
AU - Koskela, Tuomas
AU - Petek, Davorina
AU - Hoffman, Robert
AU - Brekke, Mette
AU - Buczkowski, Krzysztof
AU - Buono, Nicola
AU - Costiug, Emiliana
AU - Dinant, Geert-Jan
AU - Foreva, Gergana
AU - Jakob, Eva
AU - Marzo-Castillejo, Merce
AU - Murchie, Peter
AU - Sawicka-Powierza, Jolanta
AU - Schneider, Antonius
AU - Smyrnakis, Emmanouil
AU - Streit, Sven
AU - Taylor, Gordon
AU - Vedsted, Peter
AU - Weltermann, Birgitta
AU - Esteva, Magdalena
N1 - Funding Information:
This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. ALN is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Imperial Patient Safety Translation Research Centre, with infrastructure support provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
Publisher Copyright:
© © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - Background National European cancer survival rates vary widely. Prolonged diagnostic intervals are thought to be a key factor in explaining these variations. Primary care practitioners (PCPs) frequently play a crucial role during initial cancer diagnosis; their knowledge could be used to improve the planning of more effective approaches to earlier cancer diagnosis.Objectives This study sought the views of PCPs from across Europe on how they thought the timeliness of cancer diagnosis could be improved.Design In an online survey, a final open-ended question asked PCPs how they thought the speed of diagnosis of cancer in primary care could be improved. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Setting A primary care study, with participating centres in 20 European countries.Participants A total of 1352 PCPs answered the final survey question, with a median of 48 per country.Results The main themes identified were: patient-related factors, including health education; care provider-related factors, including continuing medical education; improving communication and interprofessional partnership, particularly between primary and secondary care; factors relating to health system organisation and policies, including improving access to healthcare; easier primary care access to diagnostic tests; and use of information technology. Re-allocation of funding to support timely diagnosis was seen as an issue affecting all of these.Conclusions To achieve more timely cancer diagnosis, health systems need to facilitate earlier patient presentation through education and better access to care, have well-educated clinicians with good access to investigations and better information technology, and adequate primary care cancer diagnostic pathway funding.
AB - Background National European cancer survival rates vary widely. Prolonged diagnostic intervals are thought to be a key factor in explaining these variations. Primary care practitioners (PCPs) frequently play a crucial role during initial cancer diagnosis; their knowledge could be used to improve the planning of more effective approaches to earlier cancer diagnosis.Objectives This study sought the views of PCPs from across Europe on how they thought the timeliness of cancer diagnosis could be improved.Design In an online survey, a final open-ended question asked PCPs how they thought the speed of diagnosis of cancer in primary care could be improved. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Setting A primary care study, with participating centres in 20 European countries.Participants A total of 1352 PCPs answered the final survey question, with a median of 48 per country.Results The main themes identified were: patient-related factors, including health education; care provider-related factors, including continuing medical education; improving communication and interprofessional partnership, particularly between primary and secondary care; factors relating to health system organisation and policies, including improving access to healthcare; easier primary care access to diagnostic tests; and use of information technology. Re-allocation of funding to support timely diagnosis was seen as an issue affecting all of these.Conclusions To achieve more timely cancer diagnosis, health systems need to facilitate earlier patient presentation through education and better access to care, have well-educated clinicians with good access to investigations and better information technology, and adequate primary care cancer diagnostic pathway funding.
KW - Delivery of Health Care
KW - Primary Health Care
KW - General Practitioners
KW - Cancer
KW - Diagnosis
KW - Consultation and Referral
KW - LUNG-CANCER
KW - LONG-TERM
KW - SURVIVAL
KW - STAGE
KW - TIMES
KW - PERCEPTIONS
KW - AWARENESS
KW - INTERVALS
KW - OUTCOMES
KW - ACCESS
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030169
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030169
M3 - Article
C2 - 31551382
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 9
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 9
M1 - 030169
ER -