• Rachel Campbell, Nikki McCaffrey, Linda Brown, Meera R Agar, Katherine Clark, and David C Currow.
• 1 Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, SA, Australia.
• Palliat Med. 2018 Sep 1; 32 (8): 1363-1368.

BackgroundTranslating research evidence into clinical practice often has a long lag time.AimTo determine the impact of a phase III randomised controlled trial on palliative care clinicians' self-reported practice change.DesignOnline survey about use of octreotide in managing inoperable malignant bowel obstruction due to cancer or its treatments distributed in November 2016, 2 years after the first publication of the study in a peer-reviewed journal. Demographic, self-reported practice and the reasons underpinning this were collected. Responses were aggregated to 'practice modified' or 'practice not modified'. A multinomial regression model explored predictors of practice change.SettingMembers of the Australian New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine.ResultsResponse rate was 20.8% (106/509): 55.6% were aged >50 years, 56.5% were female and 77% had previously prescribed octreotide for this clinical indication. Out of 106 respondents, 52 (49.1%) indicated modified practice (60.9% of those who had previously prescribed octreotide in this setting). In those who reported practice change, most frequently octreotide was now used when other therapies failed; for not changing practice, 'more confirmatory evidence was needed' was most often cited. In the regression model, older age (clinician age = 50-59 years; relative risk = 0.147; 95% confidence interval = 0.024-0.918; p = 0.04) and having practices with lower proportions of people treated with octreotide (0%-20%; relative risk = 0.039; 95% confidence interval = 0.002-0.768; p = 0.033) predicted greater self-reported practice change.ConclusionClinician-reported change in practice in the survey is seen in the majority of respondents. This suggests that there is a cohort of 'early adopters' within palliative care practice as new evidence becomes available.

32 keywords...

hide…