Oncology is undergoing profound change with the development of treatments and techniques, the evolution of care taking (outpatient, overall patient care, prevention and screening), attracting more and more women. This field is also concerned by the medical demography issue. Each professional team organisation and functions are meant to be reconsidered. We took interest in the general practitioner functions in cancer centers (they are present in 80% of those); a new concept which has not been studied in France yet. A questionnaire survey of general practitioners, oncologists and directors from 19 regional cancer centers and 9 private cancer clinics, was conducted during summer 2008. The overall response rate was 51% (260/512). This study aimed to underline the general practitioner main functions, who is widely qualified, with high relational ability, a role different from family physicians and oncologists, but closely working together with them, with hardly recognized specific activities: overall patient care, continuous care with the daily management of hospitalized patients allowing a reduction in oncologists working load, the continuity of care with the family physician, the involvement in the day hospital management, in the emergency department, in outpatient palliative care consultations and follow-up consultations.
Keywords: cancer centers; general practitioner; healthcare organization; occupational role; oncology; physician medicine.