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KMID : 0856920060090020093
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Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
2006 Volume.9 No. 2 p.93 ~ p.100
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Doctor’s Attitudes toward Hospice and Palliative Care for Terminal Cancer Patients
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Moon Do-Ho
Lee Myung-Ah
Koh Su-Jin
Choi Youn-Seon
Kim Su-Hyun
Yeom Chang-Hwan
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Abstract
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Purpose: This study was designed to understand the doctor’s attitude toward hospice and palliative care for terminal cancer patients.
Methods: Specialists who work at general hospital were surveyed with questionnaires about hospice and palliative care for terminal cancer patients. The questionnaires comprise 17 items. The data were statistically analyzed.
Results: Eighty one doctors responded. Their median age was 35 years old. Thirty six doctors (44.4%) were from internal medicine. The median of specialist’s experience was 4 years. Forty three respondents (53.2%) have rarely examined and treated cancer patients even a week. Thirty seven respondents (45.6%) knew the exact definition of hospice and palliative care. Eighty respondents (98.8%) felt that hospice and palliative care is necessary, and 91.2% of them responded the necessity of palliative medicine specialist. As to the question ’Do you positively referred terminal cancer patient to hospice and palliative care?’, 55 respondents (67.9%) responded ’Yes’ and 22 (27.2%) ’No’. Among the ’Yes’ respondents 17 (30.9%) had an experience of hesitation for referring patients to hospice and palliative care; the most common reason was the disagreement of family members (6, 35.3%). As for the reasons of responding ’No’, 6 doctors (27.2%) did so because of their ’feeling of abandoning the patients’ and the other 6 for the ’lack of information on the referral procedure for hospice and palliative care’. Thirty seven specialists (45.7%) thought it is most desirable for the patients to have hospice and palliative care for 3 months before death. Fifty eight specialists (71.6%) responded that hospice and palliative care help controlling the patient’s psychological symptoms before all.
Conclusion: While most doctors recognize the need of hospice and palliative care for patients with terminal cancer, their attitude toward hospice and palliative care was rather reserved. We suggest that continuing education, information and promotion for hospice and palliative care should be provided for doctors. (Korean J Hosp Palliat Care 2006;9:93-100)
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KEYWORD
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Doctors, Hospice and palliative care, Attitudes, Terminal cancer
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