Practice Patterns of Medical Oncologists: A Survey of Advance Care Planning in the Outpatient Setting

Table 4

Patient characteristics that prompted oncologist to initiate ACP discussions early in a patient’s care.

Patient characteristics	Outpatient setting (n (%))
	Curative	Incurable
Elderly age (>80 years of age)	4 (24)	10 (59)
Poor ECOG (3-4)	8 (47)	15 (88)
Anticipated short prognosis (<3 months)	8 (47)	15 (88)
None	6 (35)	2 (12)

Other characteristics influencing oncologists’ timeline for initiating ACP discussions were patient education and insight, declining cognition, major comorbidities, preference for no treatment, or discontinuing treatment early.