Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2016 / March / 02 / Oncologists support having advance care planning discussions earlier, UBC research shows
Health

Oncologists support having advance care planning discussions earlier, UBC research shows

March 2, 2016

Carole Robinson

Carole Robinson

A UBC researcher is pointing towards the need for oncologists to have advance care planning and end-of-life discussions with cancer patients sooner rather than later.

“Traditionally it was thought that having advance care planning discussions—related to things such as do not resuscitate orders or opting out of chemotherapy in the final weeks of life— before the final stages of cancer, was disempowering, but this research tells us that is not the case,” says Prof. Carole Robinson, who teaches at the School of Nursing at UBC Okanagan. “What we have learned from the participants in this study is that having the conversations earlier, rather than at a time of crisis, are empowering for both doctors and patients.”

Robinson’s study, conducted in partnership with the BC Cancer Agency, involved nine oncologists throughout British Columbia who were asked to have ‘goals of care’ discussions with their patients and document the results.

The oncologists were asked to talk with both new patients as well as those with whom they had established relationships, and to start the conversations before patients were in their last stages of life, which is typically when advance care planning discussions are conducted.

Oncologists participating in the study emphasized that good goals of care conversations need to happen at a meaningful time for the patient and in a meaningful way. For physicians this means having established relationships with their patients, beginning conversations as soon as advanced cancer is diagnosed, and ensuring that ongoing conversations are documented.

The study determined two major barriers to having good goals of care conversations include a lack of dedicated time for physicians to have and document the discussions, and the possibility that patients may view these discussions, a key component of advance care planning, as an indirect ‘bad news’ message that they are dying.

“This information has been used to inform a supportive program of resources and tools to enable oncologists to have these conversations earlier,” says Robinson. “If the conversations don’t happen, people may not have their wishes respected, and if they don’t happen well, it can create relationship problems.”

Robinson’s work was recently published in the Journal of Cancer Education. The research was funded by the BC Cancer Foundation.

– 30 –

Media Contact

Matthew Grant
Associate Director
Public Affairs

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250-807-9926
E-mail: matthew.grant@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Nursing

Trending Stories

  • Pushing the boundaries of spinal cord research
  • Climate change is chasing away the salmon, so she’s ...
  • Work Study opens new doors for undergraduates
  • Strengthening Indigenous community through research
  • Safeguarding water quality
All Stories
Contact Media Relations

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

TikTok icon Linkedin icon

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility