The PERSONS score for symptoms assessment in simultaneous care setting: A pilot study

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Palliative Care
• Symptom Management

Background:

• Early integration of palliative care into oncology is crucial for effective symptom management.
• Major oncology societies emphasize the importance of symptom evaluation for palliative care integration.
• Despite recommendations, a significant gap exists in the routine use of validated symptom assessment tools by oncologists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the importance of symptom evaluation in integrating palliative care into oncology.
• To assess the current utilization of validated symptom assessment tools by oncologists.

Main Methods:

• Review of position papers from oncology associations.
• Analysis of survey data on oncologists' use of symptom assessment tools.

Main Results:

• Only 20% of oncologists regularly use validated tools for symptom evaluation.
• 45% of oncologists use these tools exclusively in clinical trials.
• 30% use them occasionally, and 5% never use them.

Conclusions:

• There is a low rate of regular use of validated symptom assessment tools among oncologists.
• This underutilization poses a barrier to the effective integration of palliative care in oncology practice.
• There is a need to improve the adoption and consistent use of symptom assessment tools in routine oncology care.