Screening cancer patients for distress: Guidelines for routine implementation

Screening cancer patients for distress during routine care is beginning to receive the attention it deserves, although it has long been known that distress has a negative impact on patients' mental and physical health and that it can be managed through early identification and intervention. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the Institute of Medicine have created screening guidelines and recommendations for integrating routine distress screening as a quality standard in cancer care. In this article, we discuss a brief history of these guidelines, their implementation and barriers to implementation, methods for effective rapid screening in busy clinics, and future directions for networking among clinics and the dissemination of information.