October 25, 2010 – Physicians should take a more active role in helping their patients make informed decisions about whether or not to be screened for breast cancer or prostate cancer.
This is what Dr Michel Labrecque, during the French-speaking Symposium of Medicine1 which brought together more than 800 doctors in Montreal.
Recently, several studies have questioned the effectiveness of mammography and PSA screening tests in reducing death rates from breast and prostate cancer.
For an informed and shared decision
Shared decision making, between the patient and their attending physician, is the new trend in cancer screening2-3.
“It is a process by which the patient, assisted by his doctor, makes the best decision, taking into account scientific data on the risks and benefits of each approach and the preferences expressed by the patient”, explained the patient. who is also a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University.
Dr Michel Labrecque
According to Dr. Michel Labrecque, “there is no right or wrong decision when a patient decides whether or not to undergo a screening test.”
But he insists, however, on the role that physicians must play in this process so that the decision is taken in an informed manner.
“Both for breast cancer screening and prostate cancer screening, informing the patient is not enough: he must be helped to interpret the information, according to the values specific to each patient,” he said. he concludes. Either way, there is never an urgent need to decide whether to get tested or not. “
The “shared decision-making” approach is already in the sights of the Ministry of Health and Social Services. The Ministry also took advantage of the French-speaking Symposium of Medicine to probe – through a questionnaire – the openness of its members to adhere to it, within the framework of the current breast cancer screening program. Quebec (PDCSQ).
French-speaking medicine symposium Read also Breast and prostate cancer screening: how many lives saved? |
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. For more details, visit www.medecinsfrancophones.ca [consulté le 25 octobre 2010]
2. On this subject, consult the “toolbox” proposed by the Research chair in the implementation of shared decision-making in primary care [consulté le 25 octobre 2010].
3. For prostate cancer screening, also consult this site: http://infoprostate.fmed.ulaval.ca.