• J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2021

    Neuro-oncology palliative care survey of physicians in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    • Ramya Tadipatri, Amir Azadi, Madison Cowdrey, Samuel Florian Fongue, Paul Smith, Evangelia Razis, Maria Boccia, Yumna Ghouri, Paula Zozzaro-Smith, and Ekokobe Fonkem.
    • Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2021 Nov 1; 62 (5): 1020-1025.

    ContextEarly access to palliative care is a critical component of treating patients with advanced cancer, particularly for glioblastoma patients who have low rates of survival despite optimal therapies. Additionally, there are unique considerations for primary brain tumor patients given the need for management of headaches, seizures, and focal neurological deficits.ObjectiveWe hoped to determine Sub-Saharan African physicians' level of understanding and skill in providing palliative care, types of palliative care therapies provided, role of cultural beliefs, availability of resources, and challenges faced.MethodsWe conducted a survey of 109 physicians in Sub-Saharan Africa who treat brain tumor patients.ResultsAmong the participants, 48% felt comfortable in providing palliative care consultations, 52% believed that palliative care is only appropriate when there is irreversible deterioration, 62% expressed having access to palliative care, 49% do not have access to liquid opioid agents, 50% stated that cultural beliefs held by the patient or family prevented them from receiving palliative care, and 23% stated that their own beliefs affected palliative care delivery. Older providers (age > 30) had a clearer understanding of palliative care (P = 0.004), were more comfortable providing consultation (P = 0.052), and were more likely to address mental health (P < 0.001).ConclusionPalliative care delivery to glioblastoma patients in Sub-Saharan Africa is often delayed until late in the disease course. Barriers to adequate palliative care treatment identified in this survey study include lack of training, limited access to liquid opioid agents, and cultural beliefs.Copyright © 2021 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…