Table 3.

Palliative Care Program Characteristics According to Palliative Care Program Leaders

	NCI Cancer Centers (N=61)a			Non-NCI Cancer Centers (N=35)a			P- valueb
	N	%	95% CI (%)c	N	%	95% CI (%)c
Time from Palliative Care Program Activation
>5 years	30	51	37–64	9	27	13–46	0.03
Unknown or not answered	2			2
Estimated Patient Follow-up Time
1–7 days	20	34	22–47	14	43	25–61
>1–4 weeks	17	28	17–41	8	24	11–42
>1–12 months	17	28	17–41	9	27	13–46	0.85
>1 year	6	10	4–21	2	6	1–20
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Professional Background of Palliative Care Leaderd
Medical Oncology	10	17	8–29	6	18	7–35	>0.99
Palliative Medicine	32	53	40–66	6	18	7–35	0.001
Nursing	5	8	3–18	10	30	16–49	0.009
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Palliative Care Physician
Number of full-time equivalent positions, median (Q1–Q3)	1		(1–2)	1		(0–2)	0.07
Unknown or not answered	4			3
Number of physicians with at least 20% of protected time, median (Q1–Q3)	0		(0–1.5)	0		0	0.047
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Professional Requirement
Board certification for physicianse	34	57	43–69	15	45	28–64	0.39
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Board certification for nursesf	19	32	20–45	8	24	11–42	0.49
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Palliative Care Servicesd
Assessment and management of psychiatric disorders	29	48	35–62	11	33	18–52	0.193
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Obtaining advanced directives/DNR orders	54	90	79–96	29	88	72–97	0.817
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Ethical issues	44	73	60–84	29	88	72–97	0.121
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Referrals to hospice, home care and other placements	55	92	82–97	30	91	76–98	>0.99
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Comprehensive care plan	53	88	77–95	27	82	65–93	0.53
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Pain consultation	57	95	86–99	61	94	80–99	>0.99
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Psychosocial support	54	90	79–96	25	76	58–89	0.08
Unknown or not answered	1			2
Symptom management	57	95	86–99	33	100	89–100	0.55
Unknown or not answered	1			2

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DNR, Do-not-resuscitate; NCI, National Cancer Institute; Q1–Q3, interquartile range

^aTotal number of respondents

^bComparisons were made between NCI and non-NCI cancer centers using the Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables, and the Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables. Confidence intervals were computed using the exact binominal test. Missing values were not included in the analyses

^cUnless stated otherwise

^dMore than one option may apply

^eBased on the question “Does your palliative care program require physicians to be certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine or American Board of Medical Specialties?”

^fBased on the question “Does your palliative care program require nurses to be certified by the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses?”