Photo courtesy of NIH
Worrying about wasting their doctor’s time is stopping people from reporting symptoms that might be related to cancer, according to a small study published in the British Journal of General Practice.
The goal of the study was to determine why some people are more likely than others to worry about wasting a general practitioner’s (GP’s) time and delay reporting possible cancer symptoms.
“People worrying about wasting their doctor’s time is one of the challenges we need to tackle when thinking about trying to diagnose cancer earlier,” said study author Katriina Whitaker, PhD, of the University of Surrey in the UK.
“We need to get to the root of the problem and find out why people are feeling worried. Not a lot of work has been done on this so far. Our study draws attention to some reasons patients put off going to their GP to check out possible cancer symptoms.”
For this study, Dr Whitaker and her colleagues conducted interviews with subjects in London, South East England, and North West England.
The subjects were recruited from a sample of 2042 adults, age 50 and older, who completed a survey that included a list of “cancer alarm symptoms.”
Ultimately, the researchers interviewed 62 subjects who had reported symptoms at baseline, were still present at the 3-month follow-up, and had agreed to be contacted.
The interviews revealed a few reasons why subjects were hesitant to report symptoms to their GP.
Some subjects felt that long waiting times for appointments indicated GPs were very busy, so they shouldn’t bother making an appointment unless symptoms seemed very serious.
Other subjects felt that seeking help when their symptoms did not seem serious—ie, persistent, worsening, or life-threatening—was a waste of a doctor’s time.
Still other subjects were hesitant to seek help because their doctors had been dismissive about symptoms in the past.
On the other hand, subjects who reported positive interactions with GPs or good relationships with them were less worried about time-wasting.
And other subjects weren’t worried about wasting their doctor’s time because they think of GPs as fulfilling a service financed by taxpayers.
“We’ve all had times where we’ve wondered if we should go to see a GP, but getting unusual or persistent changes checked out is really important,” said Julie Sharp, head of health and patient information at Cancer Research UK, which funded this study.
“Worrying about wasting a GP’s time should not put people off. Doctors are there to help spot cancer symptoms early when treatment is more likely to be successful, and delaying a visit could save up bigger problems for later. So if you’ve noticed anything that isn’t normal for you, make an appointment to see your doctor.”
