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Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy

OBJECTIVES: Patients with cancer who are treated with chemotherapy report adverse events during their treatment, which can affect their quality of life and increase the likelihood that their treatment will not be completed. In this study, patients' perceptions of the physician-patient relations...

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Autores principales: Hershman, Dawn, Calhoun, Elizabeth, Zapert, Kinga, Wade, Shawn, Malin, Jennifer, Barron, Rich
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2710992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19639029
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-5174.2008.00011.x
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author Hershman, Dawn
Calhoun, Elizabeth
Zapert, Kinga
Wade, Shawn
Malin, Jennifer
Barron, Rich
author_facet Hershman, Dawn
Calhoun, Elizabeth
Zapert, Kinga
Wade, Shawn
Malin, Jennifer
Barron, Rich
author_sort Hershman, Dawn
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Patients with cancer who are treated with chemotherapy report adverse events during their treatment, which can affect their quality of life and increase the likelihood that their treatment will not be completed. In this study, patients' perceptions of the physician-patient relationship and communication about cancer-related issues, particularly adverse events were examined. METHODS: We surveyed 508 patients with cancer concerning the occurrence of adverse events and their relationship and communication with their physicians regarding cancer, treatment, and adverse events. RESULTS: Most individuals surveyed (>90%) discussed diagnosis, treatment plan, goals, and schedule, and potential adverse events with their physicians before initiating chemotherapy; approximately 75% of these individuals understood these topics completely or very well. Physician-patient discussions of adverse events were common, with tiredness, nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite discussed prior to chemotherapy in over 80% of communications. These events were also the most often experienced (ranging in 95% to 64% of the respondents) along with low white blood cell counts (WBCs), which were experienced in 67% of respondents. Approximately 75% of the individuals reported that their overall quality of life was affected by adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that discussions alone do not provide patients with sufficient understanding of the events, nor do they appear to adequately equip patients to cope with them. Therefore, efforts to improve cancer care should focus on developing tools to improve patients' understanding of the toxicities of chemotherapy, as well as providing resources to reduce the effects of adverse events.
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spelling pubmed-27109922009-07-27 Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy Hershman, Dawn Calhoun, Elizabeth Zapert, Kinga Wade, Shawn Malin, Jennifer Barron, Rich Arch Drug Inf Original Articles OBJECTIVES: Patients with cancer who are treated with chemotherapy report adverse events during their treatment, which can affect their quality of life and increase the likelihood that their treatment will not be completed. In this study, patients' perceptions of the physician-patient relationship and communication about cancer-related issues, particularly adverse events were examined. METHODS: We surveyed 508 patients with cancer concerning the occurrence of adverse events and their relationship and communication with their physicians regarding cancer, treatment, and adverse events. RESULTS: Most individuals surveyed (>90%) discussed diagnosis, treatment plan, goals, and schedule, and potential adverse events with their physicians before initiating chemotherapy; approximately 75% of these individuals understood these topics completely or very well. Physician-patient discussions of adverse events were common, with tiredness, nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite discussed prior to chemotherapy in over 80% of communications. These events were also the most often experienced (ranging in 95% to 64% of the respondents) along with low white blood cell counts (WBCs), which were experienced in 67% of respondents. Approximately 75% of the individuals reported that their overall quality of life was affected by adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that discussions alone do not provide patients with sufficient understanding of the events, nor do they appear to adequately equip patients to cope with them. Therefore, efforts to improve cancer care should focus on developing tools to improve patients' understanding of the toxicities of chemotherapy, as well as providing resources to reduce the effects of adverse events. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008-09 /pmc/articles/PMC2710992/ /pubmed/19639029 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-5174.2008.00011.x Text en © 2008, Archives of Drug Information http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Hershman, Dawn
Calhoun, Elizabeth
Zapert, Kinga
Wade, Shawn
Malin, Jennifer
Barron, Rich
Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title_full Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title_fullStr Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title_full_unstemmed Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title_short Patients' Perceptions of Physician-Patient Discussions and Adverse Events with Cancer Therapy
title_sort patients' perceptions of physician-patient discussions and adverse events with cancer therapy
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2710992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19639029
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-5174.2008.00011.x
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