GPs' assessment of cooperation with other health care providers involved in cancer care-a cross-sectional study

Cancer is a complex disease requiring the involvement of several health care providers. A possible constant in the cancer care process is the general practitioner (GP). The aim of this project was to evaluate GPs' satisfaction with cooperation with other health care providers in the cancer care process of their patients and to explore which variables are associated with higher satisfaction with cooperation with other health care providers. We considered the following health care providers: outpatient oncology specialists, physicians in relatively small hospitals (≤400 beds), physicians in relatively large hospitals (>400 beds), home care services, outpatient psycho(onco)logists/psychotherapists, hospice/palliative care units and specialised palliative home care. The cross-sectional study was carried out as a postal survey all over Germany. Data were analysed descriptively and by means of logistic regression. Overall satisfaction with cooperation with other health care providers involved in cancer care was rather high. Only cooperation with outpatient psycho(onco)logists/psychotherapists was rated as not assessable/irrelevant by a majority of GPs. For all other health care providers under review, both communication and the transfer of sufficient information in good time were associated with overall satisfaction with cooperation. Little association was found between GP and practice variables and overall satisfaction with cooperation with the considered health care providers.