Impact of the role of hospital physicians in colorectal cancer screening [Impact du r?le des médecins hospitaliers dans le dépistage du cancer colorectal]

摘要

Objective: Too many patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are still diagnosed when they are already symptomatic. In our hospital, many patients have been attending various departments in the years before the diagnosis of CRC, but never had CRC screening. We studied whether specially targeting information to hospital specialists might enhance CRC screening awareness. Methods: We studied the knowledge and implication of hospital physicians before and after a specially targeted information campaign about CRC screening in our hospital. We conducted two paper questionnaire surveys at 12-month interval. The results were compared to the colonoscopy activity of our endoscopy unit. Results: Participation was 55% in the first survey and 51% in the second survey. Knowledge about screening principles was fairly good. A large majority of physicians (90%) declared adhering personally to CRC screening. However, only 40% of physicians recommended screening frequently or regularly to patients (after the campaign: 50%, NS). Colonoscopies raised 11% in the 6 months after the campaign. Conclusion: The large majority of hospital physicians report adhering personally to CRC screening guidelines. However, this translates only infrequently into screening recommendations for their patients. One-off information campaigns may help change specialist physicians' attitudes but have only a small impact on CCR screening attendance.