Research on the Attitudes of Breast Specialist Medical Staff Towards the Implementation of Breast Cancer Decision-Making Aids

Abstract

Background: The participation of patients in treatment and nursing decision-making has been advocated by many medical staff. This is not only to attach importance to the wishes of patients, but also to the needs of social development. The purpose of this research was to investigate the attitudes of Chinese breast cancer medical staff towards the implementation of breast cancer decision-making aids.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 doctors and nurses in the Department of Breast Surgery. We used a questionnaire designed by investigators. Data was collected from February 2021 to September 2021. IBM SPSS Version 22 was used to analyze the collected data.Results: Overall, 420 valid questionnaires were returned from 220 doctors and 200 nurses. Response rate was 85.19%. The results showed that 77.14% of the medical staff supported the promotion of breast cancer decision-making aids, and 85.71%（360/420）agreed that patients should be the main participants in high-quality clinical decision-making. Also, 95.24%（400/420）believed that patients should know the reasons for making treatment decisions, and agreed that the positive effects of patient decision-making aids were positively correlated with high education (r education=0.317, P=0.001). There were statistically significant differences in the attitudes of medical staff with different working years (X2=9.432, P=0.024), educational background (X2=42.918, P<0.001) and shared decision education (X2=11.932, P=0.008) on whether to promote decision-making aids. Conclusion: At this stage, breast medical staff have a positive attitude towards using breast cancer decision aids for joint decision-making.