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Physician use among patients receiving cancer chemotherapy
Author(s) -
Mor Vincent,
Rice Christopher
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19930101)71:1<219::aid-cncr2820710134>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , cancer , cancer chemotherapy , chemotherapy , disease , primary care physician , emergency medicine , primary care
Background . Little research has examined the volume and pattern of physician use or the scope of multiple physician use in patients with cancer. Methods . The authors studied a sample of 259 patients with advanced cancer who received outpatient chemotherapy at two hospital clinics and eight private oncology practices. Results . These patients reported regularly seeing an average of three different physicians an average of 15 times in 3 months. The number of physicians seen was strongly correlated with the number of reported visits (r = 0.65). Demographic and disease characteristics were associated only moderately with visit volume. Patients without a regular physician had a less concentrated pattern of visits to many doctors than did those with a regular doctor. Conclusions . This pattern of physician use among active treatment patients has not been described before and has implications for continuity of care. Cancer 1993; 71:219‐25.