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. 2024 Sep;42(9):288.e7-288.e15.
doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2024.04.012. Epub 2024 May 18.

Variation in content discussed by specialty in consultations for clinically localized prostate cancer

Nadine A Friedrich  1 , Michael Luu  2 , Rebecca Gale  3 , Antwon Chaplin  3 , Leslie Ballas  4 , Howard M Sandler  4 , Edwin M Posadas  5 , Stephen J Freedland  6 , Brennan Spiegel  7 , Paul Kokorowski  8 , Timothy J Daskivich  9
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Variation in content discussed by specialty in consultations for clinically localized prostate cancer

Nadine A Friedrich et al. Urol Oncol. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

Introduction: Multidisciplinary consultations improve decisional conflict and guideline-concordant treatment for men with prostate cancer (PC), but differences in the content discussed by specialty during consultations are unknown.

Methods: We audiorecorded and transcribed 50 treatment consultations for localized PC across a multidisciplinary sample of urologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists. Conversation was coded for narrative content using an open coding approach, grouping similar topics into major content areas. The number of words devoted to each content area per consult was used as a proxy for time spent. Multivariable Poisson regression calculated incidence rate ratios (IRR) for content-specific word count across specialties after adjustment for tumor risk and patient demographics.

Results: Coders identified 8 narrative content areas: overview of PC; medical history; baseline risk; cancer prognosis; competing risks; treatment options; physician recommendations; and shared decision making (SDM). In multivariable models, specialties significantly differed in proportion of time spent on treatment options, SDM, competing risks, and cancer prognosis. Urologists spent 1.8-fold more time discussing cancer prognosis than medical oncologists (IRR1.80, 95%CI:1.14-2.83) and radiation oncologists (IRR1.84, 95%CI:1.10-3.07). Urologists (IRR11.38, 95%CI:6.62-19.56) and medical oncologists (IRR10.60, 95%CI:6.01-18.72) spent over 10-fold more time discussing competing risks than radiation oncologists. Medical oncologists (IRR2.60, 95%CI:1.65-4.10) and radiation oncologists (IRR1.77, 95%CI:1.06-2.95) spent 2.6- and 1.8-fold more time on SDM than urologists, respectively.

Conclusions: Specialists focus on different content in PC consultations. Our results suggest that urologists should spend more time on SDM and radiation oncologists on competing risks. Our results also highlight the importance of medical oncologists in facilitating SDM.

Keywords: Medical oncology; Prostate cancer; Radiation oncology; Treatment; Urology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Proportion of Time Spent on Major Content Areas by Provider Specialty
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Incidence Rate Ratio for Time Spent on Major Content Area by Provider Specialty
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Proportion of Consultation Spent on Major Sub Content Area by Specialty
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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