| Addington-Hall (1990) |
Categorical |
Doctors; Nurses |
Job title |
No difference |
| Bruera (1992) |
Categorical |
Doctors |
2 Doctors “highly experienced and dedicated to full time management of patients with advanced cancer” |
No difference |
| Chow (2005) |
Continuous |
Radiation Oncologists |
Years of experience |
No difference; inaccurate and tended to be overly optimistic. |
| Christakis (2000) |
Continuous |
Doctors |
Job title; Self-rated optimism; years of experience; gender; board certified; length of time known patient; contact time with patient; number of referrals to hospice |
Overall, not very accurate. Experience decreases risk of optimistic and pessimistic errors. |
| Fairchild (2014) |
Both |
Doctors; Radiation therapist; Nurses; Allied health professionals |
Job title |
Radiation therapists more accurate than allied health professionals. |
| Forster (1988) |
Continuous |
Consulting oncologist; General Internist; Hospice social worker; Community oncologist; Nurse |
Job title |
Registered nurse and consulting university oncologist were more accurate but still overly optimistic |
| Gripp (2007) |
Categorical |
Doctors; Experienced Physician; Tumour Board |
Years of experience |
No difference. |
| Gwilliam (2013) |
Categorical |
Doctors; Nurses; MDTs |
Age; Gender; Length of time qualified; Length of time working in palliative care; Time known patient; Time since last assessed patient |
No difference between doctors’ and nurses’ accuracy. MDTs more accurate than a nurse alone. Nurses’ accuracy better when patient reviewed within previous 24 hours |
| Heyse-Moore (1987) |
Continuous |
Hospital Doctors; GPs |
Job title |
No inferences made about groups in paper, but data shows GP slightly better |
| Holmebakk (2011) |
Categorical |
Surgeons |
Years of experience |
No difference. |
| Hui (2011) |
Both |
Doctors; Nurses |
Age; Gender; Ethnicity; Religion; Years of experience; Years of palliative experience |
With probabilistic prediction, nurses more accurate with 24 hour and 48 hour time points. |
| Llobera (2000) |
Categorical |
Oncologists; Nurses; GP |
Job title |
Oncologists and nurses are more accurate than GP |
| Maltoni (1994) |
Continuous |
Oncologists |
Years of Experience |
The more experienced oncologists were more accurate |
| Oxenham (1998) |
Continuous |
Doctor; Sister; Staff Nurse; Chaplain; Auxiliary |
Job title |
Auxiliary most accurate with imminent death |
| Parkes (1972) |
Categorical |
Referring Doctor; Referring GP; Doctors; Nurses. |
Job title |
No difference. |
| Twomey (2008) |
Categorical |
Consulting university oncologist; General Internist Hospice social worker; Community oncologist; Registered Nurse |
Job title |
No group accurately predicted the length of patient survival more than 50% of the time. Nursing and junior medical staff were most accurate while care assistants were least accurate. When in error, senior clinical staff tended to under estimate survival. |
| Vigano (1999) |
Categorical |
Oncologists |
Job title |
No difference |
