Summary
Aim
We hypothesised that patients treated for breast cancer would benefit from targeted
therapeutic action delivered by general practitioners on the recommendations of a
multidisciplinary team based in primary care.
Methods
Patients scheduled for follow-up visits at a hospital surgical clinic were invited
to complete a self-administered care needs assessment and be interviewed by a breast
care nurse. Members of the multidisciplinary team discussed the audio-recorded interviews
within 2 weeks. The team made recommendations for each patient, which were presented
to the general practitioner as a suggested ‘care plan’. Health status information
was collected via the Short Form 36 and Anxiety and Depression data via the Hospital
anxiety and Depression Scale at recruitment and 3 months later.
Results
Among the 74 women who were invited to participate, 21 were recruited over a 6-month
period (28%), 19 of whom completed the study (90%). The mean age was 55 years (range
38–61 years) and the mean time in follow-up was 23 months (range 16–38 months). The
team identified a median of three problems per patient (range 2–7) and made an average
of two recommendations per patient for referral to an allied health professional (range
0–5). At 3 months, 17 women had attended their general practitioner, 11 of whom felt
their condition had improved as a result of the intervention. There was no significant
change in Short Form 36 or Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale score after the intervention.
Conclusions
Primary care-based multidisciplinary review of treated breast cancer patients is feasible
and, for most, results in benefit. However, only a minority of eligible patients participated
in this pilot study and the logistics of organising the reviews warrants careful consideration.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 09, 2012
Accepted:
March 15,
2012
Received in revised form:
March 13,
2012
Received:
December 5,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
