Original Contribution Perceptions of Palliative Care Among Hematologic Malignancy Specialists: A Mixed-Methods Study

Purpose: Patients with hematologic malignancies are less likely to receive specialist palliative care services than patients with solid tumors. Reasons for this difference are poorly under-stood. Methods: This was a multisite, mixed-methods study to under-stand and contrast perceptions of palliative care among hema-tologic and solid tumor oncologists using surveys assessing referral practices and in-depth semistructured interviews explor-ing views of palliative care. We compared referral patterns using standard statistical methods. We analyzed qualitative interview data using constant comparative methods to explore reasons for observed differences. Results: Among 66 interviewees, 23 oncologists cared exclu-sively for patients with hematologic malignancies; 43 treated onl