Treatment of cancer has become increasingly complex that most doctors are unable to keep up-to-date with the proper treatment and medication, causing lack of communication about options and allowing cancer stricken patients to do the coordination for their own sake, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine.
The study titled Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis is a lengthy report enumerating a hefty list of causes for this crisis. These reasons included the increased number of cancer diagnosis, and decreased number of qualified oncology practitioners.
More than 1.6 million people are being diagnosed every year in the U.S. At this rate, 2.3 million will be diagnosed by 2030. This is very disturbing since there are fairly a few numbers of oncologists and health establishments to house the increasing patients to start with. An ASCO report says that by 2020 the country would be lacking around 2500 to 4080 oncologists.
"Probably on average the quality of care is not bad, but we know there are people who are not getting the (highest) standard of care," said Dr Patricia Ganz, lead author of the report from the Schools of Medicine and Public Health UCLA, in Reuters. "Patients need to be asking, Is my doctor giving me appropriate treatment?"
The cancer treatment necessitates an accurate match of the tumor's molecule properties to a specific drug, and this increased complexity has rendered doctors to be unqualified to care for cancer patients, according to the report.
Health organizations like the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) have set treatment guidelines to assist physicians in all stages for all types of cancers. However, the compliance of doctors is not prevalent. Some rely on their previous experience rather than the scientifically proven treatment, some believe that their patient is an isolated case, and some others are just merely not aware of these guidelines for cancer treatment.
Further, physicians are failing to provide the ideal palliative care for their patients. Their current practices are deficient in the sense that they hardly provide means to ease their patient's discomfort when a certain treatment failed, or even to recommend palliative-care.
Moreover, some doctors don't explain the goals, advantages and disadvantages of treatments, and the possible consequences. Some even do not closely coordinate with their fellow medical practitioners to consult each other. IOM also found that majority of doctors are hesitant to be honest--around 80 percent of patients with improper prognosis thought that the treatment would cure them.
