The role of the general practitioner in return to work after cancer-a systematic review

The number of cancer patients and survivors of working age is increasing. General Practitioners (GPs) may have a significant role in psychosocial cancer care, including work-related concerns. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature review to identify the role of the GP in work-related concerns and integration/reintegration into work of cancer patients and/or survivors.

We searched PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library, irrespective of study design. We found 4863 articles and, after removing duplicates, we screened 3388 articles by title and abstract and reviewed 66 of these in full text. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool was used to assess the methodological quality of included articles. We used narrative synthesis to describe the role of the GP.

We included four qualitative studies from three countries. Two of these studies focused on the health care professionals' perspectives and two studies focused on patients' perspectives regarding the role of the GP. Lack of communication between health care professionals, lack of knowledge about work-related concerns and limited resources were recurring themes in these papers. Fully establishing the role of the GP is difficult given the small number of studies on work-related concerns in cancer patients in primary care.

There is little evidence regarding the role of the general practitioner in cancer care and work guidance. Therefore, further research should focus on the role that is desired for GPs and on interventions to study the feasibility of GP involvement in the return to work of cancer patients and/or survivors.