Aims
People with urological tumours such as prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer have many management options, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, active surveillance, watchful waiting, and hormonal therapy. It is recommended that men with prostate cancer see multiple specialists for information about available management options1. This study aimed to assess variation in treatment decisions between people with urological and non-urological cancers.
Methods
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Service’s (DHHS’) validated Patient Experience of Cancer Care Survey (PECCS) was administered at five hospitals2 in the Loddon Mallee region (LMR). Patients treated with chemotherapy or surgery in 2016/17 were identified through the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset and assessed against DHHS’ inclusion/exclusion criteria2. Overall, 1,096 surveys were posted to eligible patients, with one reminder sent to non-responders. In the PECCS section ‘Deciding on Treatment’, the number (%) of all responders was calculated for each question category. Results were stratified by whether patients had urological cancer, with inter-group comparisons performed using the chi-square test for independence. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results
Overall, 439 people treated across five LMR hospitals responded to the PECCS section ‘Deciding on Treatment’ (response rate=40%). There were significant differences between cancer types in the proportions of patients who responded ‘yes’ to the question ‘Were you involved as much as you wanted to be in decisions about your care and treatment?’1 (urological: 87% of 71 respondents; non-urological: 75% of 364 respondents) and ‘yes’ to the question ‘Did the health professionals encourage you to ask questions about your treatment options?’1 (urological: 89% of 64 respondents; non-urological: 77% of 345 respondents).
Conclusions
More regional Victorian patients with urological than non-urological cancers were involved in treatment decisions and encouraged to ask questions about treatment options. This may reflect the relatively wide range of management options available to urological cancer patients.