When you are diagnosed with breast cancer, choosing the best care team is a must. In this video Dr. Tufia Haddad gives advice on what patients need to look for when determining who is the right health care provider to help them through their journey.
Read the Transcript:
Tufia Haddad, M.D. : Well, let’s be honest, you’re not always able to select your care team. Your insurance may limit the number of health care systems or providers that you’re able to see, and even when you call to schedule an appointment, you are most likely going to be assigned to an oncologist, but you have the power still to determine whether or not that oncologist is a good fit for you.
So some of the things to think about are communication styles, that relationship is very important, because they are going to be together with you through your journey.
But it’s not just your oncologist, it’s your care team. There will often be a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, a team of nurses, often as well, that will be part of your care team, having that holistic care from multiple providers with different areas of expertise. It’s the power is yours, and if it doesn’t feel like a good fit, you should be empowered to ask to be assigned to a new provider and one that is more aligned with your goals for your care.
One of the ways to ensure that you are receiving the best care is to be certain that you have someone who has expertise in managing metastatic breast cancer, not just expertise, but experience.
Many oncologists, especially in smaller healthcare systems, see and manage patients with any type of cancer to the best of your ability, capacity. An oncologist who manages only breast cancer would be in your best interest, but when that’s not possible, that is when seeking a second opinion from someone who specializes in breast cancer would definitely be in your best interest.
Another reason to consider getting a second opinion is when you don’t have confidence in what is being recommended, or if there is some indecision or options are laid out and you’re having challenges making a decision. This would be a great time to seek out a second opinion who can have a fresh perspective on things and perhaps provide you with a very specific recommendation.
One of the benefits of seeking out, either having all of your care at a specialty hospital or getting a second opinion at a specialty hospital is that you would be with a dedicated breast oncologist, someone who only sees and manages patients with breast cancer. They are more apt to be engaged in research, helping to bring new therapies to patients, even before they’re approved. When they’re engaged in research, they have a very good understanding of our guidelines. You know the best practices, what our best therapies to be up to be providing at any step in the journey. They also have access to those clinical trials again, having tomorrow’s most promising therapies available to patients today.
So there are many different ways to communicate with your care team. Certainly, there is the ability at an appointment and being face to face either with your nurse, a nurse practitioner, your oncologist, it’s very important to communicate if you are facing any challenges, any barriers to your care. It’s important to communicate if you are experiencing any symptoms of your cancer or any side effects from therapy, because they are there to help you. They want to help. It is important to let them know about these things so that they can provide you with the resources and support.
We certainly do not expect or want people to wait to communicate any challenges until their next appointment. Many places will be willing to pick up the phone if you call. Many times we can do video telemedicine visits as well that allows you to stay at home and still have that face to face interaction, but from the comfort of your home.
Many healthcare systems as well will have online access through the portal to be able to send secure messages back and forth for things that are maybe a little less urgent, but it’s just important to communicate so we can be there to support and help you through your journey.
Our role as oncologists and as your oncology your cancer care team is to provide you with as much information about your disease, about your treatment options, about the pros and cons of different approaches so that you can make the decision that is best for you, for your loved ones, for your family and your support system, but most importantly, for you. We will do our best then to make sure that your goals for your care are being met, but we only know about that throughopen discussion, open dialog. And that is what shared decision making is.
The most important thing with your care team is having trust. Trust in those who are taking care of you, providing you with that expertise and information and having that open dialog. Having trust that you can share what’s important to you your goals and your care, so that there’s alignment.
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