Table 4. A summary out the results for rounds 1 and 2 of the Delphi questionnaires.
| Outcome of interest | Cohort | Round 1 | Round 2 | Overall result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion that felt this outcome was important in decision making | Consensus met? | Proportion that felt this outcome was important in decision making | Consensus met? | |||
| Extent of surgery | Patient | 7/22 (31.8%) | No | 4/16 (25%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in both cohorts; discordant views |
| Clinician | 19/21 (90.5%) | Yes; important outcome | ||||
| The likelihood of stoma formation during surgery | Patient | 10/22 (45.5%) | No | 4/16 (25%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in both cohorts; discordant views |
| Clinician | 20/21 (95.2%) | Yes; important outcome | ||||
| The likelihood of surgery successfully removing all of the cancer | Patient | 10/22 (45.5%) | No | 7/16 (43.75%) | No | Consensus in clinicians (important) |
| Clinician | 21/21 (100%) | Yes; important outcome | No consensus in patients | |||
| The likelihood of being readmitted to hospital in the 2 weeks following surgery | Patient | 6/22 (27.3%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in patients (unimportant) | ||
| Clinician | 13/21 (61.9%) | No | 7/14 (50%) | No | No consensus in clinicians | |
| The likelihood of experiencing complications as a result surgery | Patient | 9/22 (40.9%) | No | 4/16 (25%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in patients (unimportant) |
| Clinician | 20/21 (95.2%) | Yes; important outcome | No consensus in clinicians | |||
| The likelihood of death as a result of surgery | Patient | 16/22 (72.7%) | Yes; important outcome | Consensus in both cohorts (important) | ||
| Clinician | 20/21 (95.2%) | Yes; important outcome | ||||
| The expected stay in hospital after surgery | Patient | 3/22 (13.6%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in patients (unimportant) | ||
| Clinician | 9/21 (42.9%) | No | 5/14 (35.7%) | No | No consensus in clinicians | |
| The likelihood of being admitted to intensive care/high dependency unit | Patient | 6/22 (27.6%) | Yes; unimportant outcome | Consensus in patients (unimportant) | ||
| Clinician | 11/21 (52.4%) | No | 8/14 (57.1%) | No | No consensus in clinicians | |
| The likelihood of needing to be discharged to somewhere other than home | Patient | 12/22 (54.5%) | No | 8/16 (50%) | No | Consensus in clinicians (important) |
| Clinician | 19/21 (90.5%) | Yes; important outcome | No consensus in patients | |||
| The length of time following treatment with-out the cancer coming back or growing | Patient | 13/22 (59.1%) | No | Absolute PFS 8/15 (53.3%) | Consensus in clinicians | |
| Relative PFS 4/15 (26.7%) | Consensus in patients they would want to know this outcome | |||||
| Do not want to know 3 (20%) | ||||||
| Clinician | 21/21 (100%) | Yes; important outcome | ||||
| Life-expectancy following treatment | Patient | 13/22 (59.1%) | No | Absolute OS 10/15 (66.7%) | Consensus in clinicians | |
| Relative OS 2/15 (13.3%) | Consensus in patients they would want to know this outcome | |||||
| Do not want to know 3/15 (20%) | ||||||
| Clinician | 21/21 (100%) | Yes; important outcome | ||||
Analysis was conducted in each cohort of each round, with a predefined threshold for consensus of 70%.
OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival.