Thumbs up for nurses to deliver prostate biopsy results by phone: survey
Once confined to rural and remote patients, the approach has merit for any cancer diagnostic clinic, WA researchers say
Nine out of ten men notified they had prostate cancer via a nurse’s phone call say they’d be happy to be informed in the same way again, researchers report.
The team, led by members of the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group, say the approach could be used by cancer diagnostic services nationwide.
The One Stop Prostate Clinic (OSPC) was set up in 2011 at the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, with the primary aim of conveniently enabling biopsy for men who had to travel long distances from rural and remote locations to be assessed.
In 2015 the clinic’s remit broadened and all men referred to the hospital for investigation of prostate cancer went to the unit regardless of where they lived.
