Necesidades formativas en la atención a pacientes oncológicos en Castilla-La Mancha

objective. to determine the training needs in cancer patient care. method. cross-sectional study based on a survey of family doctors in castilla-la mancha, spain. an ad hoc questionnaire was designed which included questions on training needs (scale of 0-5), safety management and involvement in cancer patient care. results. a total of 172 doctors (14.9% of the population) responded; 51.2% male; average age 49.1 years. the average number of terminal patients per year was 3.9. the doctors consider that the main training need is related to care of survivors (3.44). the most important is the care of emergency terminal patients (3.77). in general, women have a greater perception of training needs (3.44 versus 3.21; p = 0, 045), 69.2% has taken a course in the last 5 years. safety management of cancer patients was rated as 'moderate' by 74.4% and was inversely related to the need for training, and was higher in male doctors. 65.1% believed oncologists should have the most responsibility for the management of cancer patients, but that the primary care doctor should be responsible for terminal patients (according to 43.9% of doctors) or survivors (70.4%). according to 53.2% of doctors communication with the oncologists is "poor or very poor" this percentage being 9.3% when referring to the palliative care unit. for 70.3% their degree of involvement with these patients is adequate. the main reason for a hypothetical lack of involvement would be the lack of experience (31.6%). conclusions. the doctors consider that there is a moderate to high need for training, although in general they feel reasonably prepared to treat these patients. lack of experience and training could be factors that limit the involvement of the primary care doctor.