Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Cancer patients need to navigate their path in their journey and take into consideration many medical disciplines and other such as legal or social, hence having difficulties in their disease management.
Methods Personal interviews were preformed with 57 women cancer patients, treated in main medical centers in Israel, aged 32 to 82 years old (median 63 years old). 59.65% of patients have breast cancer, 28.07% have ovarian cancer, 14.04% have uterine cancer and 3.51% have cervical cancer. 5.26% of the patients have double malignancies. 61.4% of patients have an advanced disease. 87.72% of the patients under systemic treatment.
Results 84.21% of the patients had any actionable recommendation from the oncologist. 36.84% of the patients thought they needed help with executing oncologist’s recommendations or achieving legal rights. 38.6% of the patients were seeking for help. 45.45% of patients seeking help, needed help with performing genetic or molecular testing, 40.91% needed help with booking appointments for doctors, imaging, or procedures. 18.18% needed help with claiming rights, 9.09% needed help with enrolling to a study, 4.55% needed help with possess drugs prescribed off label and in 4.55% needed help with booking a second opinion consultation.
Conclusion/Implications This preliminary study suggests that many patients need assistance in disease management to perform better in their patient journey. Thus, oncology institutes should offer assistance in executing oncologist’s recommendations, enrolling in studies or achieving legal rights.