Mathews Maria, Park Amanda D
Division of Community Health and Humanities, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada.
Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2009 Oct;13(5):501-5. doi: 10.1188/09.CJON.501-505.
Some eligible patients with financial hardship may not be referred to assistance programs because cancer care providers do not know the full extent of patients' needs. This article describes barriers cancer care providers face in identifying patients who have financial concerns by using qualitative data from 21 interviews with providers from one Canadian province. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with a thematic approach. Four major themes emerged: no standardized approach existed for assessing needs, family members rather than patients may have better awareness of financial concerns, patients may not be forthcoming about financial concerns, and financial concerns may change over time. Adopting a standardized assessment protocol that routinely screens patients at multiple times during their care, educating patients about out-of-pocket costs, and educating providers to identify and assess financial need may enable more patients to access available financial resources. Although the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems are different, concerns about out-of-pocket costs may be similar.
一些符合条件但面临经济困难的患者可能未被转介至援助项目，因为癌症护理提供者并不完全了解患者的需求程度。本文利用对加拿大一个省份的21名提供者进行访谈所获得的定性数据，描述了癌症护理提供者在识别有经济顾虑的患者时所面临的障碍。访谈进行了录音，逐字转录，并采用主题分析法进行分析。出现了四个主要主题：不存在评估需求的标准化方法、家庭成员而非患者本人可能对经济顾虑有更清楚的认识、患者可能不会主动提及经济顾虑，以及经济顾虑可能随时间而变化。采用标准化评估方案，在患者接受治疗期间定期多次对其进行筛查，让患者了解自付费用，并培训提供者识别和评估经济需求，可能会使更多患者能够获得可用的经济资源。尽管加拿大和美国的医疗保健系统不同，但对自付费用的担忧可能是相似的。
