Assessment of the knowledge of palliative medicine among general practitioners

<p>Background: Palliative patients who stay at home require exceptional medical care provided by General Practitioners (GPs) in conjunction with specialists in palliative medicine. To ensure effective treatment, proper cooperation between them is essential. Aim: An assessment of the knowledge and attitudes of GPs towards palliative medicine Design: The research was based on a survey questionnaire, consisting of 8 multiple choice questions. A total of participated anonymously in the survey. The data analysis included descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Participants: 83 GPs from the Pomeranian Region, 58 female and 25 male practitioners. Results: 59% of respondents defined palliative care as an activity that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems related to a life-threatening illness. The coordination of the work of the palliative team was the most important task for the specialist in palliative medicine (58% of respondents). The majority stated that the most important activity was the prescription of painkillers (86%) and 84% found that being available during business hours was the most important. The next most important activity was delivering bad news (42% of respondents). Conclusions: Most of the GPs knew the correct definition of palliative care and the basics of pain management. Experienced physicians declared a lower willingness to be available during working hours and less often delivered bad news to terminal patients, compared to their younger colleagues. Individual treatment planning (98% of respondents) and reducing antibiotic therapy seem to be the most important aspects in pharmacotherapy.</p>

背景：居家姑息治疗患者需要全科医生（General Practitioners, GPs）与姑息医学专科医生协同提供的优质医疗服务。为确保治疗效果，两者间的有效协作至关重要。目的：评估全科医生对姑息医学的认知与态度。设计：本研究基于一份包含8道多项选择题的调查问卷。共有83名受访者匿名参与调查。数据分析涵盖描述性统计与逻辑回归分析。参与者：来自波美拉尼亚地区的83名全科医生，其中女性58名、男性25名。结果：59%的受访者将姑息治疗定义为改善面临生命威胁疾病相关问题的患者及其家属生活质量的医疗行为。姑息治疗团队的工作协调被认为是姑息医学专科医生最重要的任务（58%的受访者）。大多数受访者表示，开具止痛药是最重要的工作内容（86%），84%的受访者认为工作时间内保持可联络状态最为重要。其次重要的工作内容是告知坏消息（42%的受访者）。结论：大多数全科医生知晓姑息治疗的正确定义及疼痛管理的基础知识。与年轻同事相比，经验丰富的医生表示工作时间内保持可联络状态的意愿较低，且向终末期患者告知坏消息的频率也更低。个体化治疗方案制定（98%的受访者）与减少抗生素治疗似乎是药物治疗中最重要的方面。