When a cancer patient in the waiting room is a rarity: Development of an oncology specific resource to support generalist private practice and community dietitians across Australia — ASN Events
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  3. When a cancer patient in the waiting room is a rarity: Development of an oncology specific resource to support generalist private practice and community dietitians across Australia

When a cancer patient in the waiting room is a rarity: Development of an oncology specific resource to support generalist private practice and community dietitians across Australia (#125)

Anna Boltong 1 2 3 , Naomi Lawrance 2 , Anthony Younan 4 , Alex Seit 4 , Brianna Hillard 4
  1. Cancer Information and Support Service, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. Department of Cancer Experiences Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  3. Melbourne School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne
  4. Latrobe University, Melbourne

Aims

Cancer Councils aim to support health professionals by providing reliable information regarding cancer control. Many clinicians do not specialise in oncology but are required to provide cancer-specific information and support to patients.

A project was conducted to:

  1. Explore the information needs of Australian private practice and community dietitians in treating oncology patients;  and

  2. Inform the content of a resource guide for use in public health oncology nutrition practice.

Methods

In phase 1 of this project, Victorian private practice and community based dietitians (n=133) were identified via public listings and subsequent snowballing techniques. They were invited to complete a brief, telephone-based survey during August 2014. Questions focused on experience; contact and confidence in treating oncology patients; education tools used; gaps in educational resources; and desired content of a resource guide. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and frequency counts. In August 2015 (Phase 2) this methodology was expanded to dietitians based in all other states of Australia.

Results

In Victoria, surveys were completed by 63 dietitians from metropolitan and rural Victoria (47% response rate). Although 90% felt ‘very confident’ or ‘confident’ in their management of oncology patients, 10% reported they lacked confidence or were not confident; 56% reported to see oncology patients monthly or less frequently.

Informed by expressed need, an electronic resource, largely consisting of pre-existing guidelines and practical education tools was compiled and distributed to all participants and throughout oncology dietetic networks. In the first 6 months after release, this online resource had been downloaded 394 times.

Conclusions

This resource guide is of high clinical utility and offers a prototype for condition- specific resource suites to be developed for dietetic practice. An evaluation of use of the resource and adaptation to support national relevance for Australian dietitians will be presented in this symposium.

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