Providing Cancer Care: Individual or Team Sport?

Excerpt

In this issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Aubin and colleagues examine patient, primary care, and specialist physicians’ expectations about involvement in various phases of cancer care for a cohort of Canadian lung cancer patients.1 When PCPs were questioned about their desired roles in cancer care, most PCPs desired to be involved in all aspects of cancer care (diagnosis, treatment, and terminal phases), although fewer desired a major role in coordinating care during cancer treatment than during diagnosis or terminal phases of care. Specialists saw less of a role for PCPs in coordinating care and transmitting information during the diagnostic and treatment phases of illness, but valued PCPs involvement in emotional support and symptom relief in all phases of cancer care. When PCPs were asked specifically about their involvement in oncology care, more than half reported providing parallel care (involvement only for health problems other than cancer) or feeling left out of care entirely. …