Seeking a Second Opinion in Pediatric Oncology

Mordechai, Oz; Tamir, Sharon; Weyl-Ben-Arush, Myriam

doi:10.3109/08880018.2014.987938

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…A third study found no relation with disease stage . Use of complementary and alternative medicine was related to more SO seeking among Chinese gynecological patients but not among parents of Israeli pediatric patients . Other medical characteristics correlated with SO seeking were treatment advice (breast cancer patients advised to have a mastectomy vs. breast‐conserving therapy more likely sought an SO) , and previous treatments undergone (gynecological cancer patients seeking an SO more likely had received radiotherapy) .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…A third study found that SO seekers were more often non-blacks than blacks [32]. Place of residence was not predictive of SO seeking in one study [24], whereas another found that SO seekers were more often residents of non-central city metropolitan areas [20]. Finally, SO seeking was associated with higher familiarity with the medical system, more social support [29], and being non-religious [24].…”

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Results with regard to disease stage or progression were mixed: one study reported higher rates of SO seeking among patients with a later disease stage [22], whereas a second study found no such relation but did report that having recurrent disease was related to less SO seeking [19]. A third study found no relation with disease stage [24]. Use of complementary and alternative medicine was related to more SO seeking among Chinese gynecological patients [22] but not among parents of Israeli pediatric patients [24].…”

Section: Medical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Higher age was related to more frequent SO seeking in one study [29], but not in two others [24,25]. SO seekers were more often female in one study [30], but another study reported no gender differences [25].…”

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Patient-Driven Second Opinions in Oncology: A Systematic Review

Hillen¹,

Medendorp²,

et al. 2017

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Additional studies are required to further examine the medical, practical, and psychological consequences of second opinions for patients and oncologists. Future studies could compare the potential advantages and disadvantages of second opinion seeking, and might offer guidance to patients and physicians to better facilitate the second opinion process. Some practical recommendations are provided for oncologists to optimally discuss and conduct second opinions with their patients. 2017;22:1197-1211 IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Although cancer patients increasingly seek a second opinion, the benefits of this process remain unclear. Results of this systematic review suggest that the available studies on this topic are highly variable in both methodology and quality. Moreover, reported rates for a second opinion (1%-88%) as well as for disagreement between the first and second opinion (2%-51%) range widely. The primary motivations of patients are a need for certainty, lack of trust, dissatisfaction with communication, and/or a need for more (personalized) information. Additional research should evaluate how unnecessary second opinionsmight be avoided. Practical suggestions are provided for oncologists to optimize second opinions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Medical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Sociodemographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Patient-Driven Second Opinions in Oncology: A Systematic Review

Hillen¹,

Medendorp²,

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The demand for such active involvement in medical decisions progressively increased over the years [42,64]. Several studies suggest that about 68% of patients seek a second opinion, so that would get another diagnosis or prognosis, and 65% would assurance regarding the diagnosis or treatment options [44,47,[65][66][67]. Furthermore, the patients might seek another opinion to discuss their diagnosis and/or treatment, especially when they are dissatisfied with the first physician [45,47,63,65,68].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Second Opinion Medical Network”

Palmieri¹

2017

Int J Pathol Clin Res

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The "Second Opinion Medical Network" is a consultation referral web and medical office system recruiting a wide panel of real-time available specialists, to whom any patient affected by any disease or syndrome and not satisfied with the diagnosis or therapy can apply for an individual clinical audit. Due to the physician-patient communication gap, most of the patients usually wander around the medical websites looking for proper answers to their health problems. However, this search often becomes compulsive and obsessive and frequently ambiguous and frustrating. Palmieri, et al. defines this borderline or even pathological behavior as the "Web Babel Syndrome"-psychological imbalance affecting young and elderly patients, often with multiple synchronous diseases receiving by their care givers heterogeneous and misleading informations or advices, as well as, confused, contradictory statements and prescriptions. To deal with this problem, the "Second Opinion Medical Network" aims to be a useful "problem-solving" support revisiting each conflictual diagnostic and therapeutic step and properly re-addressing tailored treatments and prognoses, preventing unnecessary investigations and unhelpful and expensive medical and surgical interventions.The aim of this editorial is to describe the role and benefits of such a medical network in our web connected health care system. KeywordsSecond opinion, Network, Surgery, Cancer, EconomyIn 2002, a survey of 4,530 people in Europe and USA showed that 32% of Europeans and 43% of Americans preferred to use health web sites, sponsored by BBC and Yahoo, for health information [3]. However, the internet sites are often lacking of adequate information concerning disease complications and aftercare [4]. This web-searching behaviour is often continuous, compulsory, somehow obsessive, leading to the "Web Babel Syndrome", defined as a physician-patient communication gap frequently occurring when the patient affected by multiple synchronous pathologies, feeds back heterogeneous and misleading informations and prescriptions with the risk to drop in a confusionary state [5][6][7][8].In 1999, the Institute of Medicine report cited fatal medical errors in some 40,000-98,000 Americans PER year [8] supporting once more the concept that a further consultation or specialistic second opinion may be useful antidote to lethal misdiagnosis [9].The term "second opinion" has been widely reported also in histology [10,11] and pathology (e.g. thyroid pathology) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] where the diagnosis is often difficult, misunderstood and strongly based on the healthcare professionals' experience. It has been defined as a qualified, interdisciplinary medical opinion, based on medical evidence, of an experienced medical specialist or a team [21]. An effective and helpful second opinion strategy in various pathologies (e.g. oral pathology) is the use of smartphones and software applications, such as WhatsApp Messenger, a crossplatform mobile messaging application that allows the exchang...

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Second Opinion Seeking in Paediatric Oncology: Motivations and Predictors

Kerras,

Hetherington,

Toofanian

et al. 2024

Psycho-Oncology

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IntroductionThis study investigated the prevalence, methods and factors leading carers of childhood cancer patients to seek second opinions.MethodsA prospective, questionnaire‐based study was conducted among families attending oncology clinics at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick. Participants were asked whether they had sought a second opinion for their child and if so, their motivations. Factors including cancer diagnosis, carer demographics and online health seeking behaviours were evaluated in association with second opinions. A separate online questionnaire invited paediatric oncologists worldwide to indicate the frequency of, and their approach to, second opinion requests via email.ResultsFourteen out of 126 carers (11.1%) sought a second opinion from another oncologist to confirm diagnoses (64.3%), explore treatment options (64.3%) or receive additional information (57.1%). A brain cancer diagnosis was the most significant predictor for second opinion seeking in univariate (p = 0.009) and multivariate analyses (p = 0.015). Among carers who reported using the internet for health information seeking (n = 98), second opinions were independently associated with social media use (p = 0.014) and frequent health‐related searches (p = 0.027). Most paediatric oncologists (71/89, 79.8%) had received second opinion requests via email, with 21.3% (19/89) reporting that these occur at least weekly. Surveyed oncologists provided a second opinion for some (59.2%) or all (33.8%) requests they received, with 68.5% supporting guideline development for second opinions in paediatric oncology.ConclusionsSecond opinions are regularly sought by carers of childhood cancer patients, with many paediatric oncologists approached over email. International guidelines may be warranted to assist paediatric oncologists and families in navigating these requests.

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Seeking a Second Opinion in Pediatric Oncology

Abstract: Second opinion consultations were not uncommon and were mainly secondary to the desire for reassurance. Pediatric oncologists should ensure that patients and their families feel comfortable requesting a second opinion consultation.

Cited by 14 publications

References 15 publications

Patient-Driven Second Opinions in Oncology: A Systematic Review

Patient-Driven Second Opinions in Oncology: A Systematic Review

The “Second Opinion Medical Network”

Second Opinion Seeking in Paediatric Oncology: Motivations and Predictors

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