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Involvement of general practitioners in palliative cancer care: a qualitative study

Supportive Care in Cancer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

General practitioners play an important role in palliative care for cancer patients. The intensity of care and its medical complexity make palliative care a demanding task for general practitioners. This study explored general practitioners' perceptions of their involvement in palliative cancer care and the constraints they confront.

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 German general practitioners. Recruitment occurred by means of purposeful sampling to secure maximum heterogeneity. The interviews were electronically recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring.

Results

A number of themes were identified. General practitioners describe being intensely involved in the final phase of their patients' lives. When providing home-based end-of-life care to cancer patients, general practitioners become aware of the limitations in their medical skills and knowledge and their ability to provide round-the-clock care. They find it helpful and satisfying to collaborate with trusted care providers and seek to cooperate with specialized palliative care services for outpatients.

Conclusions

The substantial involvement of general practitioners in end-of-life care for cancer patients pushes them to their limits because of the major time commitment required, and the need for special skills for which they have received no training. It will be a challenge to provide general practitioners with the structural and personal support they need to provide home-based palliative care for their cancer patients at end of life.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Erika Kojima who conducted two GP interviews. We would like to thank Phillip Elliott who translated the citations and provided helpful comments on the manuscript, and last but not least, we are very grateful to all the GPs who voluntarily participated in our study.

We would also like to thank the German Cancer Aid for funding the study.

Integrity of research and reporting

After consulting the institutional review board of the University Hospital Frankfurt/Main, ethical approval was not required. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards laid out in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

Conflict of interest

The authors do not have a financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research. They have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested.

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Correspondence to Anne Dahlhaus.

Additional information

This is the first study in Germany to investigate general practitioner involvement in palliative cancer care. It shows that general practitioners are very much engaged in end-of-life care and that it demands a major commitment of time, as well as special medical skills, in which they have rarely received sufficient training. Policy makers need to acknowledge the time-consuming and intense nature of the task, provide appropriate remuneration, and ensure that general practitioners have the support they need to provide palliative cancer care in addition to other practice responsibilities.

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Dahlhaus, A., Vanneman, N., Siebenhofer, A. et al. Involvement of general practitioners in palliative cancer care: a qualitative study. Support Care Cancer 21, 3293–3300 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1904-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1904-6

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