TY - JOUR
T1 - A National Survey of Palliative Care Team Compositions
AU - Chen, Joseph
AU - de la Rosa, Allison
AU - Lai, Dejian
AU - De La Cruz, Maxine
AU - Zhukovsky, Donna
AU - Revere, Lee
AU - Lairson, David
AU - Wermuth, Paige
AU - Hui, David
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was partially funded by a National Institutes of Health Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA016672). David Hui received grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (R01CA214960-01A1; R01CA225701-01A1; R01CA231471-01A1) and National Institutes of Nursing Research (R21NR016736-01), Helsinn Therapeutics and Insys Therapeutics during the conduct of the study. Dejian Lai received partial grant support from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (RP 170668).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Objective: It is unclear how well palliative care teams are staffed at US cancer centers. Our primary objective was to compare the composition of palliative care teams between National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers and non-NCI-designated cancer centers in 2018. We also assessed changes in team composition between 2009 and 2018. Methods: This national survey examined the team composition in palliative care programs at all 61 NCI-designated cancer centers and in a random sample of 60 of 1252 non-NCI-designated cancer centers in 2018. Responses were compared to those from our 2009 survey. The primary outcome was the presence of an interprofessional team defined as a palliative care physician, nurse, and psychosocial member. Secondary outcomes were the size and number of individual disciplines. Results: In 2018, 52/61 (85%) of NCI-designated and 27/38 (71%) non-NCI-designated cancer centers in the primary outcome comparison responded to the survey. NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to have interprofessional teams than non-NCI-designated cancer centers (92% vs 67%; P =.009). Non-NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to have nurse-led teams (14.8% vs 0.0%; P =.01). The median number of disciplines did not differ between groups (NCI, 6.0; non-NCI, 5.0; P =.08). Between 2009 and 2018, NCI-designated and non-NCI-designated cancer centers saw increased proportions of centers with interprofessional teams (NCI, 64.9% vs 92.0%, P <.001; non-NCI, 40.0% vs 66.7%; P =.047). Conclusion: NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to report having an interprofessional palliative care team than non-NCI-designated cancer centers. Growth has been limited over the past decade, particularly at non-NCI-designated cancer centers.
AB - Objective: It is unclear how well palliative care teams are staffed at US cancer centers. Our primary objective was to compare the composition of palliative care teams between National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers and non-NCI-designated cancer centers in 2018. We also assessed changes in team composition between 2009 and 2018. Methods: This national survey examined the team composition in palliative care programs at all 61 NCI-designated cancer centers and in a random sample of 60 of 1252 non-NCI-designated cancer centers in 2018. Responses were compared to those from our 2009 survey. The primary outcome was the presence of an interprofessional team defined as a palliative care physician, nurse, and psychosocial member. Secondary outcomes were the size and number of individual disciplines. Results: In 2018, 52/61 (85%) of NCI-designated and 27/38 (71%) non-NCI-designated cancer centers in the primary outcome comparison responded to the survey. NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to have interprofessional teams than non-NCI-designated cancer centers (92% vs 67%; P =.009). Non-NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to have nurse-led teams (14.8% vs 0.0%; P =.01). The median number of disciplines did not differ between groups (NCI, 6.0; non-NCI, 5.0; P =.08). Between 2009 and 2018, NCI-designated and non-NCI-designated cancer centers saw increased proportions of centers with interprofessional teams (NCI, 64.9% vs 92.0%, P <.001; non-NCI, 40.0% vs 66.7%; P =.047). Conclusion: NCI-designated cancer centers were more likely to report having an interprofessional palliative care team than non-NCI-designated cancer centers. Growth has been limited over the past decade, particularly at non-NCI-designated cancer centers.
KW - National Cancer Institute (US)
KW - cross-sectional studies
KW - palliative care
KW - patient care team
KW - surveys and questionnaires
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U2 - 10.1177/08258597211058963
DO - 10.1177/08258597211058963
M3 - Article
C2 - 34939878
AN - SCOPUS:85121807418
SN - 0825-8597
VL - 37
SP - 142
EP - 151
JO - Journal of palliative care
JF - Journal of palliative care
IS - 2
ER -