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Program Number: B357
Session Name: Poster Session

Depression Screening Practices Among Early- versus Late-Career Head and Neck Cancer Surgeons

Soroush Ershadifar, BS¹; Beverly Garber, ANPC, CORLN¹; Madeline Deanne, MBA²; Kelly L Vittetoe, MD³; Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, PhD, MPH⁴; Bethany Rhoten, PhD, RN, PMHNPBC⁵; Melanie Hicks, MD³; Aru Panwar, MD⁶; Marianne Abouyared, MD¹; ¹Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of California-Davis, Sacramento, California, USA; ²School of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska; ³Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; ⁴Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA; ⁵School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; ⁶Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center, Nebraska Methodist Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) diagnosis and treatment can often be disfiguring and debilitating, causing a large psychosocial burden on patients. While prior reports suggest up to 50% of patients may exhibit signs and symptoms of depression, there are no widespread guidelines or screening practices among head and neck cancer surgeons. Furthermore, current screening practices and knowledge-gaps among HNC surgeons are not well defined. This study aims to characterize depression screening practices in early- versus late-career HNC surgeons in order to identify gaps in practice and opportunities for higher education.

Methods: A 35-item anonymous survey was formulated by multidisciplinary team across different institutions and approved by each respective Institutional Review Board. Survey was disseminated through Qualtrics to active members of American Head and Neck Society in two separate emails through August 28th and September 10th, 2024. Responses from completed surveys were used for analysis.

Results: A total of 74 surgeons responded to the survey. Early-career surgeons were defined as those completing training in the last 10 years and late-career as those with 11+ years of experience. In our cohort of 74 surgeons, 44 were early-career and 30 were late-career. Of the early-career group, 73% had completed training in the last 5 years, and 66% screen for depression either at every clinic visit or when a patient has signs/symptoms of depression. This did not differ in the late-career group, where 70% screen for depression regularly. Despite two-thirds of all surgeons screening, less than one third of them review the results of the screening. Of the 29 early-career surgeons who screen for depression, 10 (34%) stated that they have formal training in depression screening, although medical school clerkships were cited as their source of training. Of the 21 late-career surgeons who screen for depression, 7 (33%) stated that they have formal training, citing depression-specific conferences, CME courses, and institutional seminars as their form of education. 93% of early-career versus 63% late-career surgeons would like to learn more about how to screen for and manage depression in HNC patients.

Conclusion: Head and neck surgeons lack formal training in screening for depression, despite this affecting more than half of our patients and significantly impacting survival. Most surgeons were eager to learn more about screening and treatment practices and responded they felt it was part of our responsibility as HNC surgeons. This study highlights a clear knowledge-gap and opportunity for dedicated education at our Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery meetings.

 

 

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