Improving Palliative Breast Cancer Care
Improving Palliative Breast Cancer Care
September 18, 2013
A new study finds that a combination of explicit prognostic information and reassurance about nonabandonment can improve quality outcomes for women entering palliative breast cancer care.
“Oncologists should be sure to ask patients about their preferences regarding explicit information before providing it,” says Dr. Liesbeth M. van Vliet from the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research.
“It is always possible to provide more explicit information, but not to retract this information once given.”
Dr. Leeat Granek, a researcher in BGU’s Faculty of Health Sciences, has studied the importance of oncologists’ communications with patients. At the same time, she is well aware of how hospitals handle palliative care.
“When palliative care teams come in, oncologists often go out,” says Dr. Granek.
“Besides the best intentions of individual oncologists [to reassure their patients], we need to address the abandonment issue at the structural level.”
“As my research indicated, emotions can also drive behavior. In addition to changing the healthcare provider structure and providing more education and guidance to oncologists about these types of communications, oncologists need to be given the necessary social and emotional support with this very difficult aspect of their jobs,” adds Dr. Granek.
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