The "Day Zero Talk": the Initial Communication of a Pediatric Oncology Diagnosis by Primary Care Physicians and Other Primary Care Providers.

While much is known about the initial communication of a definitive pediatric cancer diagnosis by the child's pediatric oncologist, little is known about the discussions leading up to this formal conversation, which are often had with nononcologists. We sought to describe these initial conversations regarding the possibility of a child's oncologic diagnosis, from the perspective of both the patient/family as well as the provider. Semistructured interviews were performed with individuals involved with a child with recently diagnosed cancer at a quaternary care institution in an urban, mid-Atlantic city.