Doruk Sibel, Sevinç Can, Sever Fidan, Itil Oya, Akkoçlu Atila
Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey.
Tuberk Toraks. 2012;60(4):336-43.
The aim of this study is to assess the opinions of relatives about telling the lung cancer diagnosis to the patient and evaluate the implementation in our hospital.
A survey questionnaire was designed, and applied on nurses and physicians working in oncology care units, 4th-6th grade medical students, and relatives of cancer and non-cancer patients.
Totally 347 (228 males, 119 females) participants (64 physicians, 100 nurses, 61 medical students, and 122 relatives of patients) with a mean age of 28 were enrolled in the study. 62.5% of doctors, 53.2% of nurses, 59.5% of medical students and 45.9% of relatives of lung cancer patients thought that the patient should be informed about his/her cancer diagnosis. 29.5% of the physicians told their patients about their diagnosis of cancer. Gender, age, abroad experience, academic career, speciality, and period of professional experience were not determined to have any impact on physician's opinion and clinical practices.
It was determined that physicians care more about patients' right to be informed than other participating groups. Generally, although physicians agree that the diagnosis of cancer should be told to the patient, their routine clinical practices do not reflect this viewpoint.
