[How to improve cancer patients' satisfaction with medical information]

Pre-gestational counselling for women living with CKD: starting from the bright side

Pregnancy in women living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was often discouraged due to the risk of adverse maternal-fetal outcomes and the progression of kidney disease. This negative attitude has changed in recent years, with greater emphasis on patient empowerment than on the imperative 'non nocere'. Although risks persist, pregnancy outcomes even in advanced CKD have significantly improved, for both the mother and the newborn. Adequate counselling can help to minimize risks and support a more conscious and informed approach to those risks that are unavoidable. Pre-conception counselling enables a woman to plan the most appropriate moment for her to try to become pregnant. Counselling is context sensitive and needs to be discussed also within an ethical framework. Classically, counselling is more focused on risks than on the probability of a successful outcome. 'Positive counselling', highlighting also the chances of a favourable outcome, can help to strengthen the patient-physician relationship, which is a powerful means of optimizing adherence and compliance. Since, due to the heterogeneity of CKD, giving exact figures in single cases is difficult and may even be impossible, a scenario-based approach may help understanding and facing favourable outcomes and adverse events. Pregnancy outcomes modulate the future life of the mother and of her baby; hence the concept of 'post partum' counselling is also introduced, discussing how pregnancy results may modulate the long-term prognosis of the mother and the child and the future pregnancies.

'Bad news consultations' with oncology nurses: Impact on perceived stress and patient experience

PURPOSE

'Bad News Consultations' (BNC), conducted by nurses who are specialists in cancer, have been institutionally implemented in all French anti-cancer centres, to support the patient facing announcement-related stress. This study aimed to 1/describe the impact of the BNC on the patient's perceived stress and 2/determine the patient's benefits from the BNC.

METHOD

This monocentric study, cross-sectional evaluation, used a mixed method, both quantitative and qualitative. During 8 months, 336 eligible participants who underwent a BNC were recruited by nurses. Perceived stress was self-assessed with a validated Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), at the beginning and at the end of the BNC. Stress resilience was self-assessed once using the CD-RISC2. Qualitative experiences were explored after the BNC, using a 25-item questionnaire. Multivariate analyses were conducted on perceived stress measures (on the VAS) to test mixed-effects models, including initial predispositions (e.g., stress resilience) and organisational constraints (e.g, interval between the medical consultation and the BNC).

RESULTS

Analyses on the perceived stress measures revealed a significant and negative effect of Time (B = -1.91; p < .001), Gender (B = 0.72; p = .03), and Resilience score (B = -0.43; p < .001), without any significant effect of the other incorporated random effects (i.e., Type of cancer/treatment) nor fixed effects (i.e., Age, Organisational constraints). Patients mostly reported having received necessary information, having their addressed emotions with empathetic responses and respect, perceived benefits in the healthcare pathway, and heard of some supportive cares.

CONCLUSION

Perceived stress was reduced after BNCs. According to the patients, the BNCs allowed a better patient-centered communication and a better care pathway.

[Advance directives in dermato-oncology: The current situation and future prospects]

INTRODUCTION

Patient information and advance directives (AD) are described in the French laws of 4 March 2002 and 22 April 2005, which concern the decisions of subjects regarding end-of-life treatment. At present, practitioners rarely seek the opinion of patients on this matter. The Claeys-Leonetti law requires doctors to identify any advance directives by patients, which are binding upon medical staff. The present study sought to analyse the extent of application of the laws of 2002 and 2005 and to collect the observations of clinicians in dermato-oncology regarding the new legislation.

METHODS

We contacted members of the French dermato-oncology group by email and asked them to assess their practices with regard to information provision, patient surrogates and advance directives.

RESULTS

To 111 requests we received 34 replies from hospital dermatologists, i.e. a response rate of 31 %. In all, 85 % of clinicians informed patients with metastasis that their disease was incurable, and 94 % stated that they have procedures in place concerning the appointment of a patient surrogate. One third of respondents reported having a procedure in place for provision of information or collection of advance directives. According to 91 % of clinicians, the binding nature of advance directives did not constitute any loss of chance for the patient in question; 59 % felt that the new law would affect their practices, but of these, paradoxically, 60 % felt that this would have no impact on their therapeutic decision-making. In all, 26 clinicians (76.5 %) did not intend to modify their decision-making process.

CONCLUSION

The law of 2002 is generally better known than that of 2005. Dermato-oncologists are not aware of the practical consequences of the new binding nature of advance directives with regard to the doctor-patient relationship and the actual decision-making process.

[Coping among patients with advanced cancer and medical communication]

Advanced cancer is likely to be perceived as a non-controllable source of stress for the individual. The patient distress at this stage of the illness and the strategies he uses to cope with it need to be explored so as physical symptoms, since they are correlated with quality of life at the end-of-life. But very few recent studies have considered patient coping and quality of life in the palliative stage of cancer. For patient at advanced stage of cancer, quality of life includes the quality of death, including being prepared to death, being informed about prognosis and receiving global care. For relatives, get medical information is a key point since uncertainty is often perceived as frightening. Patient coping strategies interact with those of the physician, who has to cope with different sources of stress. Taking into account these strategies among patients with advanced cancer could facilitate a medical communication respectful of the patient's mental state, under the complex context of palliative care in oncology.

[Effectiveness of a supportive care form for family physicians]

To assess the effectiveness of a standardized form in altering family physicians knowledge regarding supportive care delivered to their patients. We conducted an uncontrolled before and after study involving 42 cancer patients who were provided with supportive care at hospital. During the intervention study period, a standardized form was sent to their family physician within 1 week of discharge. The use of the standardized form was associated with an increase in the percentages of correct answers regarding consultations with psychologists (95% versus 19%, P &#60; 0.001), social workers (95% versus 14%, P &#60; 0.001), nutritionists (86% versus 9%, P &#60; 0.001), and palliative care physicians (90% versus 52 %, P = 0.006). Yet, the percentages of correct answers regarding discharge arrangements did not differ between the two study groups. The use of a standardized form improves family physician information regarding supportive care delivered to their patients during hospital course but does not alter information on discharge arrangements and follow-up.