Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in Australia. In a recent landmark US study, metastatic NSCLC patients who received palliative care from the time of diagnosis concurrently with standard oncology management reported improvements in quality-of-life, symptom control, reduction in “aggressive therapies” at end-of-life, and a survival advantage compared to those receiving standard oncology management alone. In Australia, it is unclear what the views of clinicians who care for patients with incurable lung cancer are about routine early integration of palliative care.
This qualitative sub-study is part of a larger three phase Early Integration of Palliative Care in Oncology (EIPCO) project. The aim of the sub-study was to explore health care professionals’ perceptions of EIPCO for patients with incurable lung cancer. Three focus groups and six interviews were conducted with 28 health care professionals (doctors, nurses and allied health professionals) working in three large metropolitan teaching hospitals in Melbourne. Participants were asked to describe barriers and facilitators to implementation of a model of care involving EIPCO for patients with incurable lung cancer.
The following four key themes were identified:
Early and routine involvement of palliative care in patients with incurable lung cancer is acceptable to the majority of treating clinicians. Palliative care services must be embedded in the system, sufficiently resourced and of high quality. For early referral to occur it is important that the model also involves a physical presence of a palliative care clinician in clinic who is easily accessible for referrals and provides treating clinicians with the tools they need to understand what Palliative Care have to offer as well as the language to be able to effectively introduce Palliative Care to patients and their carers.