AGREEMENT BETWEEN CANCER-PATIENTS AND THEIR PHYSICIANS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF PATIENT ANXIETY AT FOLLOW-UP VISITS

Agreement between cancer patients and their physicians in assessing pa tient anxiety during a follow-up visit was studied in two samples: one at the Department of Gynaecological Oncology (GYN, n=60) and one at t he Department of Surgery (SURG, n=141). All were ambulatory cancer pat ients attending regular follow-up visits. Physicians estimated patient anxiety immediately after the visit, while patients assessed this asp ect at home later the same day or some days later. The results show th at physicians were unable to adequately estimate patients, general anx iety during the visit. Physicians typically overrated the anxiety of n ot anxious or mildly anxious patients, and showed limited ability to e stimate individual patients, anxiety in terms of rank. Physicians made gross misjudgements (>4 points on a 0-10 scale) of patient anxiety in 20% of cases. Theoretical explanations for this lack of patient-physi cian agreement are discussed.