[Feelings of cancer patients in exclusive palliative care: Towards a general practitioner, oncologist pairing?]

Abstract

Introduction: In palliative care, cancer patients' thoughts about support given by their general practitioner are poorly described in the literature. General practitioners are involved in the management of cancer patients in palliative care, but when contact with the oncologist become less frequent, the place of the patient's different doctors becomes difficult to define. The objective of our work is to analyze the patient's perception of the place and role of the general practitioner.

Methods: Qualitative study by individual semi-directed interviews, with voluntary patients with solid cancer in palliative care. Patients were selected by palliative care physicians. A thematic analysis was performed on the basis of the patients' verbatim transcripts.

Results: Seventeen patients were interviewed and four main themes were highlighted: a perception of abandonment, a resignation to call the general practitioner, an omnipresence of the oncologist who seems not to leave the place to the general practitioner and a search for global support. The general practitioner did not appear to be empathetic nor supportive enough and was not available enough.

Discussion: Patients are looking for empathy and for their doctors to listen. Our work shows a certain disappointment of the patients regarding the place and role of their general practitioner. This disappointment reflects the insufficient coordination between hospital and community care setting. While the early integration of palliative care is becoming a standard of care, the patients' testimony commits us to improve the articulation between the oncologist and the general practitioner.

Keywords: Binôme médecin généraliste-cancérologue; Déception du patient; General practitioner-oncologist pairing; Palliative care; Patient's disappointment; Patient's feelings; Qualitative study; Ressenti du patient; Soins palliatifs; Étude qualitative.