title: Cancer prognosis by general practitioners.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General practitioners are probably asked regularly about the prognosis for patients with cancer. There is no readily available source of information on the accuracy of their estimates.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To discover studies that have reported general practitioners estimates of prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search for studies of estimates of prognosis in terminal cancer by general practitioners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three papers were discovered, reporting on 836 patients. In only a quarter of patients was prognosis accurately estimated by general practitioners, even within broad limits. Hospital doctors and nurses performed similarly. We suggest considerable scope for further studies in general practice, which should not require sophisticated procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evidence of GP's limited performance in cancer prognostication should push us to do better.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wooff
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holden
mesh_terms: D058005:General Practitioners / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011379:Prognosis; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D019452:Terminally Ill