[Use of international databases for improvement of comprehensive care of patients with head and neck cancer].

The aim of this paper was to examine the usefulness of CancerNet in the improvement of knowledge of general practitioners on specific types of cancer and the procedures for patient management, thus indirectly producing an impact on quality improvement in comprehensive health care of patients with the head and neck cancer. Data on 58 patients with the head and neck cancer were collected from medical records in 28 general practices of the "Novi Zagreb" Health Center and from GPs' information. The GPs' knowledge on cancer of the larynx and hypopharynx was examined before and after they had studied the information provided by CancerNet. The mechanism of transferring information from the clinical and public health levels towards GPs was examined on GPs having in their care patients with the head and neck cancer. The following methodological characteristics were determined to have had an impact on patient care: within the structure of health care, a possible contribution of this procedure was identified in completing patient medical documentation as well as GPs' specific knowledge; within the health care process, a possible impact of this procedure on the quality of monitoring of a population health status, on more regular referrals to specialist consultations, as well as on pain and anxiety management, and a higher quality education on elimination of risk factors in patients' lifestyles. In average, the usefulness was scored by GPs with 4.0 for improving the communication with patients, and with 4.3 for expanding the GPs' knowledge. Three fifths of GPs involved in the study considered the contact range provided by CancerNet sufficient. All GPs assessed such information as useful for GPs in Croatia.