Physician referral patterns to a breast cancer support program

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the differences between physicians who did and did not refer their patients with breast cancer to t he American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery program, as well as to deter mine the factors associated with these physician referral patterns. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 54 ph ysicians who had and 23 physicians who had not referred their patients with breast cancer to the Mile High Unit Reach to Recovery program in 1999. Par ticipating physicians completed a questionnaire about their knowledge, beha viors, and beliefs regarding Reach to Recovery, the characteristics of the patients they referred, and their own demographic and practice characterist ics. RESULTS: General surgeons were more likely than all other specialties to re fer patients to the Reach to Recovery program. The program is a part of the American Cancer Society. feedback from patients about their experiences wi th Reach to Recovery and the proportion of patient time spent caring for pa tients with breast cancer were all positively associated with referral. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: These findings show that those providing support pro grams, such as Reach to Recovery, need to use targeted strategies to ensure that physicians are aware of the services they provide and that patients r elay their experiences back to their referring physician. Because the value of social support programs for women with breast cancer has been establish ed, physicians can become valuable partners in helping more women gain acce ss to these programs.