How European primary care practitioners think the timeliness of cancer diagnosis can be improved : a thematic analysis
(2019) In BMJ Open 9(9).- Abstract
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... (More)
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.
(Less)
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019-09-24
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cancer, Consultation and Referral, Delivery of Health Care, Diagnosis, General Practitioners, Primary Health Care
- in
- BMJ Open
- volume
- 9
- issue
- 9
- article number
- e030169
- publisher
- BMJ Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:31551382
- scopus:85072596947
- ISSN
- 2044-6055
- DOI
- 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030169
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e0b540da-993e-4ff9-8e82-5e07159b6d0b
- date added to LUP
- 2019-10-04 12:16:05
- date last changed
- 2024-03-19 22:04:31
@article{e0b540da-993e-4ff9-8e82-5e07159b6d0b,
abstract = {{<p>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.</p>}},
author = {{Harris, Michael and Thulesius, Hans and Neves, Ana Luísa and Harker, Sophie and Koskela, Tuomas and Petek, Davorina and Hoffman, Robert and Brekke, Mette and Buczkowski, Krzysztof and Buono, Nicola and Costiug, Emiliana and Dinant, Geert Jan and Foreva, Gergana and Jakob, Eva and Marzo, Mercè and Murchie, Peter and Sawicka-Powierza, Jolanta and Schneider, Antonius and Smyrnakis, Emmanouil and Streit, Sven and Taylor, Gordon and Vedsted, Peter and Weltermann, Birgitta and Esteva, Magdalena}},
issn = {{2044-6055}},
keywords = {{Cancer; Consultation and Referral; Delivery of Health Care; Diagnosis; General Practitioners; Primary Health Care}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
number = {{9}},
publisher = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
series = {{BMJ Open}},
title = {{How European primary care practitioners think the timeliness of cancer diagnosis can be improved : a thematic analysis}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030169}},
doi = {{10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030169}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2019}},
}