Key Findings
- Purpose To assess clinician attitudes, referral practices, and barriers affecting the integration of PC in SCD management.
- Population 86 U.S. clinicians treating patients with SCD; comprising:
- Physicians – 90%
- Female – 72%
- Had >10 years of experience – 63%
- Lacked prior PC training – 57%
- Headline Result A majority (83%) agreed that patients with SCD would benefit from PC and expressed interest (91%) in learning about PC interventions. Survey responses indicated that 41% and 63% of participants had never worked with PC in a collaborative care inpatient or outpatient setting, respectively. Major barriers included limited familiarity with PC services, uncertainty about when to refer, and mixed perceptions of patient reactions.
- Why It Matters The gap in consistent PC practice in SCD highlights actionable needs in education, communication, and system design. Strengthened collaborations between SCD and PC specialists could enhance holistic support and quality of life for patients with SCD.
- Evidence Gaps The study design could lead to self-selection bias when potential participants with more positive perceptions of PC elect to respond to the survey compared to non-participants with ambivalent or less favorable perceptions of PC; patient outcomes from PC integration were not assessed.