A national survey of general internists' preferences and knowledge gaps regarding the care of childhood cancer survivors.

Abstract

9586 Background: Although most childhood cancer survivors (CCS) report obtaining health care in the community, primary care physicians’ views and knowledge regarding the long-term follow-up (LTFU) care of CCS are largely unknown. Methods: Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 1,907 general internists under age 65 years from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile in November 2011. A second mailing to non-responders is ongoing. Results: 892 (47%) physicians have responded. Respondents have practiced a median of 10 years (range: 3-20), and see a median of 70 patients/week (range: 40-100). 46% are in solo/group practice, 17% in multi-specialty practice, and 14% in academic practice. In the last five years, 53% have seen at least one CCS, 71% of whom have never received a treatment summary. 85% prefer to care for CCS in consultation with a cancer center based physician. A vignette of a 29-year-old female treated for Hodgkin lymphoma with mantle radiation at age 16 was provided and participants were asked a series of questions regarding monitoring for late effects. The percentage of responses that were concordant with available LTFU Surveillance Guidelines were: breast cancer, 29%; cardiac, 15%; thyroid, 77%; and all three recommendations, only 5%. By logistic regression, greater likelihood of concordance with at least one surveillance recommendation was associated with being female (OR=2.0 95% CI 1.3-3.1), seeing more patients/week (OR=1.4 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.1-1.7) and more years in practice (OR=1.3 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.0-1.6). The two modalities felt to be most useful for independent care of CCS by internists were access to LTFU guidelines and receiving a patient-specific care plan from the cancer center. Conclusions: Although the majority of internists are willing to follow CCS, they appear unfamiliar with the available LTFU guidelines and prefer to care for patients in collaboration with a cancer center based physician.