A SURVEY IN PUGLIA - THE ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS OF SPECIALISTS, GENERAL PHYSICIANS AND PATIENTS ON FOLLOW-UP PRACTICE

Background: The follow-up for breast cancer patients is a well establi shed routine practice requiring the organization and coordination of m any professional figures and a large expenditure of national health fu nds. To study the problems in practical clinical mangement of such a c omplicated health program in a typical population, a questionnaire sur vey of the opinions and attitudes of specialists, general practitioner s and patients directly involved in clinical follow-up was performed i n the Puglia region of Southern Italy. Materials and methods: A repres entative sample of specialists (n = 285), general practitioners (n = 2 63) and patients (n = 254) involved in the management of follow-up pra ctice for breast cancer in Puglia received different questionaires to ascertain their behaviour, attitutes, opinions, perception of the dise ase and the organizational requirements for treatment. A total of 57.4 % of questionnaires were returned. Results and discussion: The most im portant results were: (a) about one-third of cases complained of diffi culties in follow-up management due to the lack of cooperation and int egration of follow-up procedures among specialists; (b) the general pr actitioners preferred to have a more active role in follow-up; (c) the patients reported that being managed by more than one physician or li ving far from follow-up facilities resulted in an inferior quality of life.