Investigation of the Attitude and Perceptions of Anesthesiologist and General Practitioners on Referring Patients to Palliative Care Centers: A Survey Study

Objective: Physicians’ approaches are important in refering patients to palliative care centers (PCC). We aimed to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of general practitioners and anesthesiologist on patient referral. Methods: Anesthesiologist and general practitioners were included in a face to face or telephone interview method survey; predefined written forms were used to collect data and results were analyzed. Results: The research was completed with 207 participants. Groups were different regarding their knowledge about PC, most of the general practitioners responded “I know a litle” and anesthesiologists responded “I know what it is, I can explain it to someone else” (p=0.002). The answers to the question of which patients should be referred to PCC (“End-stage cancer patients” [p=0.018], “Patients referred home care services” [p=0.003] and “Patients having chronic ilness without adequate symptom control” [p=0.004], “Patients having total parenteral nutrition” [p=0.001], “Precence of pressure ulcer” [p<0.001], “Patients refusing discharge” [p=0.037] ) were different between anesthesiologists and general practitioners. Conclusion: Anesthesiologists and general practitioners refer patients with different diagnoses and conditions to PCC and knowledge about patient referral to PC is different. Keywords: Palliative care, anesthesiologist, general practitioner, survey