Continuous distress in an oncology clinic in Turkey: should we make use of the distress thermometer mandatory as a precautionary measure for physicians?

PURPOSE: To study the data on the distress scale points (DSP) of patients in oncology clinics in relation to age, the reasons for admission to the hospital, the educational status and the family support. METHODS: Six hundred and fifty three patients diagnosed with malignancies were enrolled. All of the patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire that included data about their demographic characteristics, diagnoses, the cause of hospital admission and the educational status. The family support of each patient was observed and noted by clinicians and other healthcare providers during the clinical visits. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 54.8 years (± SD 13.7). Of the patients 314 (48.1%) were male and 339 (51.9%) female. The median DSP for the group that included patients <35 years of age was 3; this was 5 for the 36-49 age group, 4 for the 50-69 age group and 4.5 for the >70 age group. A statistically significant difference in DSP between these groups was noticed (p=0.035). The DSP for patients <35 years of age was lower than that of the other age groups. The median DSP for the patients presenting to the outpatient clinic for adjuvant therapy was 5; this was 5 for patients presenting for palliative therapy, and 3 in the active surveillance group, and a statistically significant relationship was determined between the DSP and the reason for admission to the outpatient clinic (p<0.001). The patients that had presented to the outpatient clinic for active surveillance had statistically significantly lower DSP compared to the other groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Distress in oncology clinics seems to be continuous; thus, the use of distress thermometer as a precautionary measure for distress development in patients with malignancies should be mandatory to help medical oncologists understand the psychosocial needs of their patients and start to treat them as a human beings.