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Attitude of Italian medical oncologists toward palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: results of the SIO project

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this survey was to describe the attitude of Italian oncologists towards palliative care.

Methods

A survey on palliative care was carried out among 400 Italian oncologists.

Results

Seventy-two percent indicated that the management of patients with advanced stage cancer represents the majority of their practice. They are often involved in the management of pain (78%) and complications of chemotherapy (61%), and frequently, in the treatment of terminal patients (60%). Only 8.5% reported having frequent collaboration with psychiatrists in support of emotional and psychological patients' disturbances. About 40% are often directly involved in the management of existential or spiritual distress. Discussions on euthanasia and assisted suicide, which are illegal in Italy, took place never (68%) or occasionally (27%).

Conclusions

Respondents agreed that all oncology centres should have access to palliative care service. These results are in line with those of the European Society of Medical Oncology survey and may be usefully employed to improve the organisation of palliative care.

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Acknowledgements

Grunenthal Italy for the support of the SIO project; LG Consult for their logistic support. We thank Dorothy Campbell for revising and editing the text.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oncologia Medica, Azienda Ospedaliera Treviglio-Caravaggio, Piazzale Ospedale, 1, 24047, Treviglio (BG), Italy

    Sandro Barni

  2. Medical Oncology, Forlì, Italy

    Marco Maltoni

  3. Medical Oncology, Trieste, Italy

    Guido Tuveri

  4. Medical Oncology, Genova, Italy

    Paolo Pronzato

  5. Medical Oncology, Rome, Italy

    Enrico Cortesi

  6. Medical Oncology, Cagliari, Italy

    Bruno Massidda

  7. Medical Oncology, Bari, Italy

    Giuseppe Colucci

  8. Medical Oncology, Ragusa, Italy

    Carmelo Iacono

  9. Medical Oncology, Lecce, Italy

    Vito Lorusso

  10. Medical Oncology, Avellino, Italy

    Cesare Gridelli

  11. Medical Oncology, Mantova, Italy

    Enrico Aitini

  12. Medidata, Modena, Italy

    Lucia Simoni

  13. Clinical Psychology, Turin, Italy

    Riccardo Torta

Authors
  1. Sandro Barni
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  2. Marco Maltoni
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  3. Guido Tuveri
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  4. Paolo Pronzato
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  5. Enrico Cortesi
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  6. Bruno Massidda
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  7. Giuseppe Colucci
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  8. Carmelo Iacono
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  9. Vito Lorusso
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  10. Cesare Gridelli
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  11. Enrico Aitini
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  12. Lucia Simoni
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  13. Riccardo Torta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandro Barni.

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Barni, S., Maltoni, M., Tuveri, G. et al. Attitude of Italian medical oncologists toward palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: results of the SIO project. Support Care Cancer 19, 381–389 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-0831-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-0831-z

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