Multidisciplinary management of patients with cancer in France: The SINPATIC qualitative study

TL;DR

This study explores how cancer patients and healthcare professionals in France interact and highlights the need for better collaboration and communication in cancer care.

Contribution

The study reveals how implicit task division and poor interprofessional communication affect cancer care pathways in France.

Findings

Healthcare professionals had differing perceptions of roles and responsibilities in cancer care.

Interprofessional communication was often mediated by patients and not directly between professionals.

Training in interprofessional collaboration is needed to improve cancer care pathways.

Abstract

Health policymakers have tried to improve the care pathway for cancer patients by improving collaboration between participating healthcare professionals by involving the general practitioner (GP).

To explore how patients, GPs, oncologists and nurses interacted and how they perceived, in their practice, professional roles, collaboration, and cancer care pathways.

Between January 2018 and December 2021, we conducted a qualitative study that combined phenomenology and a general inductive analysis, based on semi-structured interviews with cancer patients and their GPs, oncologists, and nurses in France.

Our analysis of 59 interviews showed that the stakeholders had different perceptions of the cancer care pathway. Task division was implicit and depended on what each health professional thought he/she should be doing; this led to the blurring of certain tasks (announcement of the diagnosis, coordination, and follow-up). The healthcare professionals were stuck in frameworks centred on their own needs and expectations and were unaware of the other health professionals’ needs and expectations. Outside the hospital, GPs and nurses worked in isolation; they were not aware of the other stakeholders and did not communicate with them. GPs and nurses justified this attitude by the lack of a perceived need. Interprofessional communication varied as a function of the needs, involvement and knowledge of the other health professionals and was often mediated by the patient.

In the cancer management in France, to improve cancer care pathway, there is a need to train healthcare professionals in interprofessional collaboration delivering care tailored to patient needs and preferences.

In the management of patients with cancer, the division of tasks between health professionals was not clear and was not discussed by the group.

Communication within the health professionals was mediated often by the patient.

Interprofessional collaboration is strongly encouraged by France’s public health policies but was not mentioned or put into practice by the health professionals.

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