Objective: To produce information about factors related to successful and unsuccessful breast cancer care pathways from the health care staff perspective.
Materials and Methods:An electronic qualitative survey was used to collect data simultaneously from hospitals located in four different countries, focusing on four professional groups: diagnostic radiographers; radiation therapists; breast cancer nurses; and biomedical laboratory scientists (n = 23). The hospitals participating in the study treat breast cancer patients and research permits were applied from all of them. Data was analysed by deductive thematic analysis.Results: At the core of a successful breast cancer care pathway is the right content and timely information provided to the patient at the pace the patient is able to adopt. This is especially highlighted at the beginning of the treatment process. In regards to diagnostic services, rigorous execution of mammography, sampling techniques and analyses were seen as important. Staff also valued the importance of aftercare and follow-up, and highlighted the fact that the patient should be given a chance to keep in close contact with care and treatment staff, even after their active treatment process has finished.
Conclusion:Health care staff recognized the same success factors for optimal breast cancer care and treatment pathways as patients reported in previous studies, yet more emphasis was put on patient characteristics and the technical performance features of the process. Both patient and staff viewpoints should be taken into account in planning breast cancer care pathways.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.