[The opinion on care of patients with cancer undergoing palliative treatment in day care].
OBJECTIVE
To study the care utilisation and unmet care needs of patients receiving palliative treatment at the day care clinic of the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital.


METHODS
Descriptive.


METHODS
During the periods 1 April-31 July 2000 and 1 April-31 May 2001 adult cancer patients were interviewed regarding their complaints and symptoms as a result of the disease and the treatment and regarding the problems that they had with the provision of care.


RESULTS
There were 155 patients who agreed to participate: 56 men and 99 women, with an average age of 57.5 years. On average, they had 3.2 'severe' complaints. According to the patients, 65% of these 'severe' complaints were known by the specialists, 38% by the general practitioners, 24% by the day care nurses and 83% by the next of kin. Again according to the patients, 17% of the reported severe complaints received insufficient attention. About 25% of patients felt that they had received insufficient information about their disease, treatment, side effects and/or complications.


CONCLUSIONS
The day care centre did not seem to be optimally equipped to meet the needs of patients receiving chemotherapy on an outpatient basis. According to the patients, the specialists were relatively the best informed of all the care providers about their complaints and problems.
Nederlands Kanker Instituut/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Ziekenhuis, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam.
M T
MT
Puts
J
J
Versloot
M J
MJ
Muller
F S
FS
van Dam
D000328:Adult; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D009426:Netherlands; D010166:Palliative Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index