Understanding the understanding: Patient assessment of goals and treatment in oncology.

e24066 Background: Metastatic disease is typically treated with the goal to prolong life, but not cure the disease, or what’s called palliative intent. However, patients do not always understand the goals of their cancer treatment, which can lead to confusion, mistrust, grief, etc. Our institution did a survey to evaluate our patients understanding of their treatment goals back in 2020. At that time, only about 23% of the patients studied with stage IV disease knew their treatment intent was not curative. Due to this, our facility has striven to spend more time with patients discussing their goals, offering support groups and educational resources, and involving palliative care earlier in their treatment course when indicated. This study was done as a follow up to this previous study to evaluate if meaningful change has been accomplished. Methods: This was a prospective study of 97 patients at a single institution with a variety of solid tumors. During a patient’s routine visit with their oncologist, they were given a survey. This survey included questions about what type of cancer they had, how long they’ve been on treatment, if they think their treatment is curative, whether they think their treatment will help them live longer, if they know the meaning of the word palliative, quality of life, if any resources were given to them, and if they’ve seen anyone from palliative care before. Patients also gave basic demographic information. Their answers were compared using Pearson’s chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test. Results: Primary malignancies consisted of gastrointestinal, head and neck, breast, lung, prostate, and sarcoma. 62% of the patients were female. The median age was around 57. 45% of patients knew that their treatment was not curative. 34% of the patients were unsure, and 21% thought their treatment was curative when it wasn’t. 89% of the patients thought their treatment would help them live longer, and 51% reported they were happy with their quality of life. 68% of patients didn’t know what the word palliative meant. 34% of the patients had seen palliative care before, and of the patients who hadn’t, 39% of them were interested in seeing palliative care. Demographics did not play a significant role on how patients perceived their disease. Conclusions: In comparison to our previous study, patient's understanding of their disease being incurable has improved from about 23% to 45%. Continued education and ongoing studies will be needed to evaluate what is most helpful in informing and empowering our patients about their disease.