Table 2.

Palliative Care Referral Practices and Attitudes by Oncologist Type

Question	Hematologic Malignancy Oncologists (n = 23)		Solid Tumor Oncologists (n = 43)		P*
	No.	%	No.	%
I have never referred patient with advanced cancer to palliative care	7	30	0	0	< .001
Patients with advanced cancer referred, %
< 10	7	30	11	25.5
11-20	5	22	15	35
21-50	2	9	11	25.5
51-100	2	9	6	14
I have never referred patient without advanced cancer to palliative care	10	43	5	12	.005
Patients without advanced cancer referred, %
< 10	11	48	28	65
11-20	0	0	6	14
21-50	2	9	4	9
51-100	0	0	0	0
Primary reason for referral					< .001
Pain symptoms	11	48	34	79
Psychosocial support	2	9	6	14
Nonpain symptoms	0	0	2	5
Family support	2	9	1	2
Goals of care discussion	1	4	0	0
Most patients' symptoms are not controlled any better with outpatient palliative care services than with care I provide					.07†
Agree	8	35	8	19
Neutral	7	30	9	21
Disagree	8	35	25	60
Outpatient palliative care services generally meet needs of families better than standard oncology care alone					1.0
Agree	15	65	27	66
Neutral	5	22	10	24
Disagree	3	13	4	10
Interdisciplinary team approach can interfere with patient care					.61
Agree	2	8.5	2	5
Neutral	2	8.5	4	9.5
Disagree	19	83	36	85.5
I often disagree with recommendations made by palliative care clinic					1.0
Agree	1	5	1	2.5
Neutral	4	18	1	2.5
Disagree	17	77	40	95
I am well trained to take care of symptoms of patients with advanced cancer					.41
Agree	22	96	37	88
Neutral	1	4	1	2
Disagree	0	0	4	10
I am well trained to discuss goals of care with patients with advanced cancer					1.0
Agree	23	100	41	98
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0
Disagree	0	0	1	2

NOTE. Bold font indicates significance.

^*Two-tailed Fisher's exact test.

^†Statistical test was for disagree versus other categories listed, because question was phrased negatively.