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THE BIG "C"

KATHLEEN ANTONI | JUNE 21, 2010 | HEALTH LITERACY

4 Comments

No, I'm not speaking of Cancer. I'm referring to CLEAR Communication between Doctors, their staff, and the patient. First, I'm told the weekly X-rays really don't show how the radiation treatments are going, then I'm told the weekly X-rays show that my radiation treatments need to be adjusted. It's contradictory and I don't know what to believe, except that I was doing fine and finally making it thru the treatments when all of sudden I had to have a third syms in as many weeks; and now I'm not only burning but have had to double my pain medicine to make it thru 24hours before my next treatment. What or who am I to believe.

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	Clay Dunagan 06/28/2010 11:21:04 AM	Dear Kathleen, I read your comment with interest. As a physician and a member of BJC's management team, I know how important and frustrating an apparent reversal like this can be. Accurate and effective communication in healthcare has become more and more challenging as care has become more complicated and the care technologies more sophisticated. Unfortunately, your experience illustrates the work all of us who deliver care need to do to make care better. For now, my advice to you and to anyone experiencing this kind of problem is to contact the physician primarily responsible for your care, explain what happened, and ask them to help you sort out why there was a change in message about your radiation therapy.
	Kathleen Antoni 07/09/2010 07:29:29 PM	Yes, I finally discussed the issue with my primary and then my rad doctors. After that my treatments did run smoother. It's just a shame that this occurred, when we all know that COMMUNICATION is so important and what happens to the patient who can't be their own advocate. But, thanks for answering my concerns.
	Stacey Reeves 07/09/2010 09:42:42 PM	Everything in life is about communication. I realize that health care professionals for the most part do a really good job of the medical part, but I agree with Kathleen that better communication would go a long way in making medicine better. So since this isn't rocket science I have to wonder why in this day and age it is still a problem for doctors and nurses to understand the importance of sharing their knowledge and opinions in a way that help patients understand and participate in their own health care.
	Clay Dunagan 07/15/2010 10:19:48 PM	Stacey, it's a great question. I'm sure you realize there are very few healthcare providers, whether they are doctors, nurses, or other healthcare professionals, that don't wish to be better communicators. Unfortunately the demands of clinical care are such that many of us don't take the time we should to understand what patients and their families do and don't understand and to help them navigate health issues and healthcare provider actions. This is in no way an excuse. At the end of the day, this communication between clinician and patient is the essence of healthcare. In many ways, it's much more important that then technical aspects of care. We need to be better at it. And, we truly are working on this. Many organizations, including BJC, are trying to understand how to get rid of the activities and actions that don't add to a patient's care to make more time for the things that do. But it's a complicated business. Again, in the meantime, the best thing a patient or their family can do is be assertive in asking clinicians to explain what they think and why. Most clinicians will respond positively to that kind of prompt. And, if they don't, it's clearly in the patient's interest and their right to find providers who will.

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