Clinical and socio-demographic profiles of patients referred to the psycho-oncology outpatient clinic at a Victorian regional hospital.
Aims
- To investigate the nature of presentations in patients referred to the psycho-oncology outpatient clinic in a regional hospital.
- To explore socio-demographic factors such as proximity to the hospital bringing patient care ‘closer to home’.
- To tailor our clinical management to suit the needs of the patient population.
- To improve the facilitation of multidisciplinary team approach in the care of oncology patients.
Methods
We reviewed all patients (n= 108) who attended GV Health Psycho-oncology clinic since its inception in February 2017 until February 2023.
Results and Conclusions
- Patients attending the psycho-oncology outpatient clinic tend to live in proximity to the hospital and have a high attendance rate, reflecting delivery of patient care ‘closer to home’.
- Patients who have been referred to the psycho-oncology outpatient clinic represent a unique patient population comprising those without any significant past history of mental illness, family history of mental illness, substance use, and the most frequent diagnosis is adjustment disorder.
- Psychological interventions are more commonly utilized than pharmacological interventions in the treatment of patients referred to the psycho-oncology outpatient clinic.
- Future management of this patient population could be targeted at more cancer-specific psychological treatment, training of staff in psychological therapies and/or employment of staff competent in administering cancer-specific psychological therapies.