Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Due to an increasing incidence of new cancer diagnoses in the United States and longer survivorship, a growing number of patients with cancer receive care in emergency departments (EDs). This trend places an increasing burden on already crowded EDs, and experts are concerned these patients do not receive optimal care. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of ED physicians and nurses who care for patients with cancer. This information can inform strategies to improve oncology care for patients in ED settings. ⋯ Physicians and nurses experience challenges stemming from three overarching types of factors: illness factors, communication factors, and system-level factors. Solutions for the challenges of providing oncology care in the ED call for new strategies at the levels of the patient, provider, institution, and health care system.