Health care providers’ perspective on communication of cancer diagnosis and treatment plan to geriatric patients.

Abstract

e277 Background: Physician communication with patients is vital to deliver a proper diagnosis. In addition, it is important to appropriately answer questions to improve the quality of care especially with geriatric patients with cancer. However, patients feel their questions are not being answered in a timely manner. Multiple international studies involving oncologists have identified communication barriers such as cultural differences, paternalistic views and family dynamics. Furthermore, barriers to communication in geriatric patients are cognitive impairment and hearing loss. The aim of this study is to assess health care providers’ perspective on communicating cancer diagnosis and treatment plan in geriatric population. Methods: A ten-question survey was created and was emailed to health care providers using Survey Monkey. Data analysis consisted of distribution frequency and Chi-squared test/Fischer test. Results: 69 health care providers’ participated in the survey. 13 of the 69 (18.8%) did not see any geriatric patients with cancer and were excluded from the study. Amongst the communication parameters assessed, 85% of them said they had a particular approach to diagnosis. 76.9% of them included side effects of chemotherapy, risks and benefits of treatment and an option of no treatment in their initial treatment plan. Also, 67.3% of them included advance directives, hospice and prognosis in their initial plan. (Table 1) An adequate comparison was not possible due to the small sample size. Conclusions: In communicating cancer diagnosis and treatment plan, health care providers’ feel that they adequately answer questions and address needs of their geriatric patients. [Table: see text]