Quality of Endometrial Cancer Care from the Patients’ Perspective: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: While patient perspectives in healthcare are recognized, endometrial cancer (EC) care quality and patient experiences remain understudied. Objective: To explore how women treated for EC perceived the quality of care during treatment and waiting times until diagnosis and surgery. Methods: Endometrial cancer patients (n = 684) diagnosed from January 2017 to March 2018 participated in the study 6–8 months after diagnosis. Data were collected digitally by means of the Quality from the Patient’s Perspective—Gynecological Cancer instrument. Each item (n = 27) was answered in 2 ways: both as actual care received and as perceived importance of different aspects of care. Results: The highest levels of perceived quality of actual received care and the corresponding subjective importance were reported to be related to physical-technical conditions, comprising the items “acceptable waiting times”, “access to necessary equipment”, and for the factor “respect and empathy from healthcare personnel”. The lowest levels were reported regarding information related to self-care and aspects of sexuality. Most of the women (79%) reported a less than 1-month waiting time until diagnosis and surgery, and >40% of the women experienced the waiting time as troublesome. Conclusions: Women perceived the quality of endometrial cancer care mostly as good or high, and age had limited impact. Implications for Practice: Information on self-care and aspects of sexuality, along with reducing waiting times needs improvement for reducing patient distress. What is Foundational: This study contributes to a better understanding of the quality of care among women with endometrial cancer during illness, treatment and early cancer rehabilitation.