The Expert's Views on Challenges and Needs for Diagnosis and Treatment Process of Blood Cancer in Iran

Exact recognition of the needs of patients with leukemia and move to solve them will promote the health standards in the country. The aim of this study was to evaluate the needs and to assess the process of diagnosis and treatment of leukemia and their shortcomings according to experts’ views in this field. This study was a descriptive study and the population under study consisted of 101 specialists in Hemato-oncology and pathology across the country, who were selected by random cluster sampling. Data was collected by valid peer reviewed questionnaires with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.80. The collected data were evaluated and analyzed using SPSS, and chi-square test. According to specialists, lack of diagnostic facilities in small cities, timely diagnosis, especially in cases of chronic leukemia and inadequate attention to the mental state of patients during the treatment process was considered as the most important problems of health system in the diagnosis and treatment of leukemias. Shifting the health policies towards greater attention to equip the health care centers and reviewing the policies resulting in concentration of services in large cities, providing health care plans acceptable for the patient's mental state by counseling centers during the process of treatment and finally financial support of patients with leukemia (particularly low-income patients) by governmental and non-governmental organizations will certainly pave the way to achieve modern standards.