Exploring why European primary care physicians sometimes do not think of, or act on, a possible cancer diagnosis. A qualitative study

oleh: Senada Hajdarevic, Cecilia Högberg, Mercè Marzo-Castillejo, Vija Siliņa, Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza, Magadalena Esteva, Tuomas Koskela, Davorina Petek, Sara Contreras-Martos, Marcello Mangione, Zlata Ožvačić Adžić, Radost Asenova, Svjetlana Gašparović Babić, Mette Brekke, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Nicola Buono, Saliha Serap Çifçili, Geert-Jan Dinant, Babette Doorn, Robert D Hoffman, George Kuodza, Peter Murchie, Liina Pilv, Aida Puia, Aurimas Rapalavicius, Emmanouil Smyrnakis, Birgitta Weltermann, Michael Harris

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Royal College of General Practitioners 2023-12-01

Deskripsi

Background: While primary care physicians (PCPs) play a key role in cancer detection, they can find cancer diagnosis challenging, and some patients have considerable delays between presentation and onward referral. Aim: To explore European PCPs’ experiences and views on cases where they considered that they had been slow to think of, or act on, a possible cancer diagnosis. Design & setting: A multicentre European qualitative study, based on an online survey with open-ended questions, asking PCPs for their narratives about cases when they had missed a diagnosis of cancer. Method: Using maximum variation sampling, PCPs in 23 European countries were asked to describe what happened in a case where they were slow to think of a cancer diagnosis, and for their views on why it happened. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: A total of 158 PCPs completed the questionnaire. The main themes were as follows: patients’ descriptions did not suggest cancer; distracting factors reduced PCPs’ cancer suspicions; patients’ hesitancy delayed the diagnosis; system factors not facilitating timely diagnosis; PCPs felt that they had acted wrongly; and problems with communicating adequately. Conclusion: The study identified six overarching themes that need to be addressed. Doing so should reduce morbidity and mortality in the small proportion of patients who have a significant, avoidable delay in their cancer diagnosis. The ‘Swiss cheese’ model of accident causation showed how the themes related to each other.