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. 2019 Jul 29:93:e201907049.

[Analysis of non-scheduled consultations in patients with digestive neoplasms]

[Article in Spanish]
Affiliations

[Analysis of non-scheduled consultations in patients with digestive neoplasms]

[Article in Spanish]
Matilde Bolaños Naranjo et al. Rev Esp Salud Publica. .

Abstract

Objective: Non-scheduled consultation is very frequent among patients with cancer, creating alterations and delays in programmed visits. We describe the incidence of non-scheduled consultations in patients with digestive cancer in our hospital.

Methods: Descriptive, prospective, non-interventional study. In a six-month period (May-December 2017), non-scheduled visits were chronologically recorded in the medical oncology consultation of digestive tumours of Hospital Juan Ramón Jiménez de Huelva. We performed a descriptive analysis of the variables collected through the statistical program G-STAT v.2.0.

Results: Patients with colon or rectal cancer generated most consultations (68.63%). followed by pancreatic (9.15%) and gastric (5.23%). Most patients had metastatic or advanced stage cancer (59.87%) and were under palliative or symptomatic treatment (58.82%). The most frequent reason for consultation was clinical symptoms (47.05%). followed by information demand (18.30 %).

Conclusions: Non-scheduled consultations in cancer patients are frequent; they cause interference in scheduled consultations and not always resolved satisfactorily. We propose several measures to reduce the number of non-scheduled consultation in oncology.

Objetivo: La demanda de asistencia no programada por parte de los pacientes oncológicos es muy frecuente (1,2) y conllevan alteraciones y retrasos en la actividad ya programada. Describimos la incidencia de consultas no programadas en pacientes con cáncer digestivo de nuestro centro.

Metodos: Estudio descriptivo, prospectivo y sin intervención. Se recogieron cronológicamente en un periodo de 6 meses (15 de mayo al 14 de diciembre de 2017) y utilizando como fuente la historia clínica de los pacientes, las visitas no programadas atendidas en la consulta de oncología médica de tumores digestivos del Hospital Juan Ramón Jiménez de Huelva. Realizamos un análisis descriptivo de las variables recogidas mediante el programa estadístico G-STAT v.2.0.

Resultados: El mayor número de consultas fue realizado por pacientes con cáncer de colon o recto (68,63%), seguidas por los de páncreas (9,15%) y los gástricos (5,23%). La mayoría de los pacientes tenían un cáncer en situación metastásica o avanzada (59,87%) y estaban recibiendo tratamiento paliativo (58,82%) con quimioterapia o sintomático. El motivo de consulta más frecuente fueron los síntomas clínicos (47,05%), seguido por la demanda de información (18,30 %).

Conclusiones: Se constata una alta demanda de asistencia no programada por parte de los pacientes con cáncer digestivo, que interfiere con la asistencia programada y no siempre se resuelve satisfactoriamente. Se proponen varias medidas para reducir el número de estas consultas.

Keywords: Advanced cancer patient; Digestive neoplasm; Non-scheduled consultation; Oncological emergency; Spain; Tumoral symptom.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figura 1.
Figura 1.. Tipo de tumor digestivo atendido.
Figura 2.
Figura 2.. Estadio de los pacientes que consultaron.
Figura 3.
Figura 3.. Motivo de solicitud de consulta.
Figura 4.
Figura 4.. Tipo de toxicidad que motivó la consulta.

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