Table 4.
GPs’ and DNs’ reasons for not involving services and facilities (absolute numbers and %*)
| Service/facilitya | N | Not needed | Not my job | Don’t know them/where to find them | Unavailable | Bad experiences | Other/no reason specified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical pain specialist | |||||||
| GP | 27 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| DN | 93 | 37 (40%) | 44 (47%) | 6 (6%) | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Case manager for palliative care | |||||||
| GP | 34 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 4 |
| DN | 116 | 56 (48%) | 12 (10%) | 10 (9%) | 18 (16%) | 1 | 19 (16%) |
| Spiritual caregiver | |||||||
| GP | 54 | 16 (30%) | 23 (43%) | 9 (17%) | 4 (7%) | 0 | 2 |
| DN | 51 | 23 (45%) | 7 (14%) | 3 (6%) | 3 (6%) | 1 | 14 (27%) |
| Psychologist/psychiatrist | |||||||
| GP | 52 | 39 (75%) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 (17%) |
| DN | 123 | 57 (46%) | 35 (28%) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 24 (20%) |
| Social welfare | |||||||
| GP | 61 | 40 (66%) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 (7%) | 14 (23%) |
| DN | 103 | 62 (60%) | 15 (15%) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 21 (20%) |
*Percentage shown if total N > 50; boldfaced values show the most often mentioned reason per service for both professions
aWe excluded palliative home care teams, palliative care consultation services, hospices, and volunteers in palliative care as the vast majority of GPs and DNs said that they used these services and facilities sometimes or often