What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences

ObjectiveDiagnosis of cancer is challenging in primary care due to the low incidence of cancer cases in primary care practice. A prolonged diagnostic interval may be due to doctor, patient or system factors, or may be due to the characteristics of the cancer itself. The objective of this study was to learn from Primary Care Physicians' (PCP) experiences of incidents when they had failed to think of, or act on, a cancer diagnosis.DesignA qualitative, online survey eliciting PCP narratives. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Setting and subjectsA primary care study, with narratives from 159 PCPs in 23 European countries.Main outcome measuresPCPs' narratives on the question 'If you saw this patient with cancer presenting in the same way today, what would you do differently?ResultsThe main themes identified were: thinking broadly; improvement in communication and clinical management; use of other available resources and 'I wouldn't do anything differently'.Conclusion (Implications)To achieve more timely cancer diagnosis, PCPs need to provide a long-term, holistic and active approach with effective communication, and to ensure shared decision-making, follow-up and continuing re-assessment of the patients' clinical conditions. Diagnosing cancer in primary care is challenging due to the low incidence of cancer in practice and the multiple confounding factors that are involved in the diagnostic process.The need to think broadly, make improvements in communication and clinical management, and use other available resources were the main themes from Primary Care Physicians' (PCPs') narratives about their learning experiences from missed or late cancer diagnoses.A long-term, holistic and active approach with effective communication, follow-up and continuing re-assessment of the patients' clinical conditions was another theme for making improvements.Some PCPs, on reflection, would not have done anything differently.