Role of Unit Physicians and Challenges Encountered in the Follow-up of Military Personnel with Cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction General practitioners (GPs) play a central role in the management and coordination of care of patients with malignant tumors and blood diseases. Civilian GPs encounter certain difficulties during the care of such patients. The practice of unit medicine in a military environment differs from that in a civilian context through expertise in fitness to serve and to deployment and the target population. We identified the difficulties encountered by “unit” physicians during and after cancer treatment. Materials and Methods We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional descriptive study from July 2, 2021, to September 30, 2022, targeting all military GPs belonging to the French Armed Forces Health Service. We sent a questionnaire consisting of 1 open- and 16 closed multiple-choice questions describing the population of unit physicians and their patients (questions 1–5), the difficulties encountered by physicians in the follow-up of military personnel with cancer (Questions 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13), and the potential information networks accessible to physicians (questions 8–10, 14, and 17). Results Three hundred and ninety physicians completed the questionnaires. Among the 700 military GPs, 390 physicians responded to the questionnaire and 327 completed it exhaustively. The questionnaire response rate was 55%. Of the responding physicians, 49% and 70% reported following patients with an “active” malignant tumor and a malignant tumor pathology in remission, respectively. Thirty-one percent of the physicians encountered difficulties with these patients as follows: 26% concerning fitness for duty, 17% in medical follow-up, 14% in addressing the psychological aspect, 11% concerning specialist accessibility for advice, 10% in managing deconditioning to effort, 9% in addressing the social aspect, 7% in medical management, and 6% concerning other issues. Conclusions Difficulties in the follow-up of patients with cancer affect military doctors. They mainly concern fitness for duty and medical follow-up.