CHICAGO – Elderly cancer patients have better communication with their oncologists and report greater satisfaction with their care when the oncologists are provided with geriatric assessment summaries prior to the patient visit.
Although “satisfaction” can be subjective, the conclusion about the benefit of previsit geriatric assessments is objective, reported Supriya Gupta Mohile, MD, of the University of Rochester, New York.
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Dr. Supriya Gupta Mohile
“Physicians often don’t know patients’ and caregivers’ age-related concerns, such as concerns about memory or concerns about falling. Many patients and caregivers do not ask about age-related concerns, because of their unclear understanding of the relevance of those issues to an oncology clinical encounter,” she added.
The aim of the researchers was to see whether communication between physicians and their elderly patients could be improved, and patient support needs addressed, with the aid of the Geriatric Assessment (GA), a multidisciplinary diagnostic and treatment instrument.
The GA evaluates patients in the domains of functional status, objective physical performance, comorbidities, cognition, nutritional status, psychological status, and social support, and identifies vulnerabilities that could be addressed by specific interventions.
For example, patients with suboptimal physical performance may trigger recommendations for fall prevention and a review of medications that could increase fall risk. For patients with decrements in functional status, recommendations may include physical therapy, safety evaluation, and/or vision assessment.