Expand Care to Treat Broad Patient Needs
When people
talk in detail about having cancer, they inevitably
focus on the long-term impact it had on how
they felt, worked and lived.
In the hundreds of interviews
I conducted for my book, “AfterShock: What to Do
When the Doctor Gives You – or Someone You Love – a
Devastating Diagnosis,” people were often surprised
about the energy and ingenuity it took to find, coordinate
and participate in their care.
Learning about their disease,
identifying treatment options and finding the right doctors
and hospitals to treat them were certainly central tasks.
But non-medical chores were often also daunting. Managing
the administrative side of health care -- scheduling
appointments, hand-carrying test results to each appointment,
calling ahead to check on pre-certifications, coordinating
multiple specialists, and paying extravagantly complicated
bills -- is not trivial for someone who is ill and frightened.
Further, fitting a serious illness into one’s broader
life -- absorbing the emotional shock of a cancer diagnosis,
for example, while figuring out how to manage work, family
obligations and social commitments -- is not optional.
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Jessie
Gruman
President
and Executive Director
Center for the
Advancement of Health
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And so I welcome
the new report on cancer treatment from the Institute
of Medicine reminding us of the distinction between
treating diseases and treating patients.
As a person who has logged too much time as a cancer
patient and as a participant in the IOM panel that
created the new report, Cancer
Care for the Whole Patient: Meeting Psychosocial
Health Needs, I strongly concur with its
conclusion that people need easy access to information
and
to services that provide psychological, social,
practical and financial support and guidance if
they are going to fully engage in their treatment
and fully benefit from it.
The IOM report makes it clear that meeting these
needs is more than a nice adjunct to serious treatment
that should be made available only if some generous
donor will foot the bill. Rather, it is necessary.
Doing so should become the new standard of care.
The panel concludes that “Cancer is no simple
disease, and effective treatment is not just about
killing rogue cells with radiation and chemotherapy.
It is about healing the human being.”
Our chairman, Dr. Nancy Adler, of UCSF, added, "To
ignore these factors while we pour billions of
dollars into new technologies is like spending
all one's money on the latest model car and then
not have the money left to buy the gas needed to
make it run."
This message has a broader relevance and merits
a serious response. Certainly, cancer is widespread
-- more than 10 million Americans have been diagnosed
and more than 40 percent will encounter it in their
life time -- but not unique. Any serious chronic
condition -- Parkinson’s Disease, multiple
sclerosis, diabetes -- threatens an individual’s
body, but also imposes burdens in building a life
responsive to the demands of the disease and its
treatment while maintaining balance and dignity.
The potential of modern medicine to vastly improve
the health of the nation is blunted by the singular
focus on disease treatment that ignores the broader
needs -- and contributions -- of the people in
whose bodies those diseases reside.
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The Health Behavior News Service regularly distributes
stories summarizing new research on health behavior
issues. These stories can be found online at http://www.cfah.org/hbns/current.cfm.
Here are some stories released in October:
Men Who Learn More About PSA Test Are Less Likely to
Seek Screening
When men get extra help in understanding prostate cancer screening tests, they
come away more educated and confident about their choices. However, they might
also be less likely to go ahead with the tests, according to some recent studies.
Researchers Say Stress and Disease Are Likely Linked
A new commentary explores whether psychological stress leads to disease and concludes
that the link is likely. The authors say consistent results across different
kinds of studies suggest that stress plays a causal role in disease.
Want to Stop Flu? Focus on Children’s Hygiene
If SARS makes a comeback or a serious epidemic of flu becomes a reality, children
could become
an important focus in fighting back against these deadly viruses, according to
recent studies. Structured hygiene routines aimed at younger children might be
the most effective way to stem an epidemic respiratory virus.
Taxol-type Drugs Give Slight Boost to Survival Rates in Early Breast Cancer
Breast cancer drugs called taxanes, including Taxol and Taxotere, increase survival
rates when used as part of chemotherapy following surgery for cancers that have
not spread, according to a new review of the research.
Practicing Everyday Tasks Aids Mobility After Stroke
Repetitive training that simulates everyday leg function can help people walk
more easily after stroke, according to a new review of studies. Practicing everyday
tasks resulted in modest gains in walking speed, walking distance and patients’ ability
to stand up.
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