Cancer Care for the Whole Patient

Cancer Care for the Whole Patient PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309134161
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
Cancer care today often provides state-of-the-science biomedical treatment, but fails to address the psychological and social (psychosocial) problems associated with the illness. This failure can compromise the effectiveness of health care and thereby adversely affect the health of cancer patients. Psychological and social problems created or exacerbated by cancer--including depression and other emotional problems; lack of information or skills needed to manage the illness; lack of transportation or other resources; and disruptions in work, school, and family life--cause additional suffering, weaken adherence to prescribed treatments, and threaten patients' return to health. Today, it is not possible to deliver high-quality cancer care without using existing approaches, tools, and resources to address patients' psychosocial health needs. All patients with cancer and their families should expect and receive cancer care that ensures the provision of appropriate psychosocial health services. Cancer Care for the Whole Patient recommends actions that oncology providers, health policy makers, educators, health insurers, health planners, researchers and research sponsors, and consumer advocates should undertake to ensure that this standard is met.

Cancer Care for the Whole Patient

Cancer Care for the Whole Patient PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309134161
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 454

Get Book

Book Description
Cancer care today often provides state-of-the-science biomedical treatment, but fails to address the psychological and social (psychosocial) problems associated with the illness. This failure can compromise the effectiveness of health care and thereby adversely affect the health of cancer patients. Psychological and social problems created or exacerbated by cancer--including depression and other emotional problems; lack of information or skills needed to manage the illness; lack of transportation or other resources; and disruptions in work, school, and family life--cause additional suffering, weaken adherence to prescribed treatments, and threaten patients' return to health. Today, it is not possible to deliver high-quality cancer care without using existing approaches, tools, and resources to address patients' psychosocial health needs. All patients with cancer and their families should expect and receive cancer care that ensures the provision of appropriate psychosocial health services. Cancer Care for the Whole Patient recommends actions that oncology providers, health policy makers, educators, health insurers, health planners, researchers and research sponsors, and consumer advocates should undertake to ensure that this standard is met.

Cancer Care for the Whole Patient

Cancer Care for the Whole Patient PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309111072
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
Cancer care today often provides state-of-the-science biomedical treatment, but fails to address the psychological and social (psychosocial) problems associated with the illness. This failure can compromise the effectiveness of health care and thereby adversely affect the health of cancer patients. Psychological and social problems created or exacerbated by cancer-including depression and other emotional problems; lack of information or skills needed to manage the illness; lack of transportation or other resources; and disruptions in work, school, and family life-cause additional suffering, weaken adherence to prescribed treatments, and threaten patients' return to health. Today, it is not possible to deliver high-quality cancer care without using existing approaches, tools, and resources to address patients' psychosocial health needs. All patients with cancer and their families should expect and receive cancer care that ensures the provision of appropriate psychosocial health services. Cancer Care for the Whole Patient recommends actions that oncology providers, health policy makers, educators, health insurers, health planners, researchers and research sponsors, and consumer advocates should undertake to ensure that this standard is met.

Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care

Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care PDF Author: Committee on Improving the Quality of Cancer Care: Addressing the Challenges of an Aging Population
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309286602
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the United States, approximately 14 million people have had cancer and more than 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed each year. However, more than a decade after the Institute of Medicine (IOM) first studied the quality of cancer care, the barriers to achieving excellent care for all cancer patients remain daunting. Care often is not patient-centered, many patients do not receive palliative care to manage their symptoms and side effects from treatment, and decisions about care often are not based on the latest scientific evidence. The cost of cancer care also is rising faster than many sectors of medicine--having increased to $125 billion in 2010 from $72 billion in 2004--and is projected to reach $173 billion by 2020. Rising costs are making cancer care less affordable for patients and their families and are creating disparities in patients' access to high-quality cancer care. There also are growing shortages of health professionals skilled in providing cancer care, and the number of adults age 65 and older--the group most susceptible to cancer--is expected to double by 2030, contributing to a 45 percent increase in the number of people developing cancer. The current care delivery system is poorly prepared to address the care needs of this population, which are complex due to altered physiology, functional and cognitive impairment, multiple coexisting diseases, increased side effects from treatment, and greater need for social support. Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis presents a conceptual framework for improving the quality of cancer care. This study proposes improvements to six interconnected components of care: (1) engaged patients; (2) an adequately staffed, trained, and coordinated workforce; (3) evidence-based care; (4) learning health care information technology (IT); (5) translation of evidence into clinical practice, quality measurement and performance improvement; and (6) accessible and affordable care. This report recommends changes across the board in these areas to improve the quality of care. Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis provides information for cancer care teams, patients and their families, researchers, quality metrics developers, and payers, as well as HHS, other federal agencies, and industry to reevaluate their current roles and responsibilities in cancer care and work together to develop a higher quality care delivery system. By working toward this shared goal, the cancer care community can improve the quality of life and outcomes for people facing a cancer diagnosis.

The Cancer Experience

The Cancer Experience PDF Author: Roy B. Sessions
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1442216239
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Navigating the tumultuous waters of cancer treatment and decision making is difficult for all patients. It is also difficult for doctors and other medical personnel. This books deals with a variety of emotion-related and ethics issues that form much of the basis of the world of cancer related medicine: the responsibilities of the physician relative to truth, full disclosure, patient autonomy, death and dying, physician assisted suicide, and suicide in general among cancer patients. These and many other matters are discussed using real stories from the author’s extensive personal career in working with cancer patients and their families. This is not a book on treating cancer, but instead is a work that seeks to stimulate a dialog about these issues as well as the spiritual aspects of hope and other factors relating to the plight of cancer patients and their families. Written for health care professionals and cancer victims and their families alike, the core of the book centers around questions of medical ethics, doctor-patient relationships, decision making during cancer treatment (from medical and patient points of view). Given the emotional commitment and energy level required to work with cancer patients in a moral and ethical manner, medical students and residents will ask themselves: do I really want to be a cancer physician? Can I handle the ups and downs of treating people who may (or may not) be destined to fight and lose the battle against this strong nemesis? How will I answer the tough questions regarding medical approaches to cancer? How will I respond to patients who indicate a desire to commit suicide or request my help in doing so? What can I tell families whose loved one is choosing treatments that will not help and will deteriorate his quality of life? Basing his responses on the Oath of Hippocrates, the author illustrates how adaptable this oath actually is when considering the secular society in which we function. The Cancer Experience instructs doctors, medical students, and health care workers involved in cancer care on the proper role of medicine, the role of the doctor, and the opportunities for connecting with patients as they help them make decisions regarding treatment and end of life issues. It helps patients understand the issues facing doctors as they assist them, care for them, and try to maintain both close personal relationships but enough emotional and professional distance in order to protect themselves from the stress and strain when medicine fails and patients must face the hardest choices. Here the author promotes a return to traditional medical values that promote closer doctor-patient relationships in an effort to promote trust, civility, and partnership.

Healing and Cancer

Healing and Cancer PDF Author: Wayne B. Jonas
Publisher: Rodin Books + ORM
ISBN: 195758825X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Healing and Cancer strives to bring the concepts of healing and whole person care further into health care delivery so that people with cancer feel better and live longer. This important book places the concepts, science, delivery tools, and access to further resources for whole person care into the hands of cancer care teams for use with patients and caregivers. These days, cancer care generally focuses on attacking and killing the cancer cell—a laudable goal. However, if eliminating the tumor overshadows everything else, teams can lose sight of the care and healing of the person as a whole. This has great costs: for the person there are costs in time, money, side effects, and fear; and for the care team there are costs in the joy of practice, the energy to improve practice, and in overall vitality. Often, key patient needs are inadvertently pushed to the background for lack of time, tools, and resources. Moral injury and human suffering ensue. Advances in science have now clearly demonstrated that cancer does not develop in isolation, and its occurrence, progression and regression are largely influenced by the surrounding environment—the immune system, inflammation in the body, and things we ingest and are exposed to. By utilizing the methodologies and concepts outlined in this book, oncology teams can bring the full science of cancer biology into the care of the patient while inviting the person into full engagement in their own care. Doing so, they will have achieved the highest quality of care for people diagnosed with cancer. Care teams that practice deep listening—up front and early on—to patients as people move beyond patient-centered care to person-centered and whole person care. With increasing numbers of survivors of cancer and the intensity and duration of relationships in oncology, cancer care is a field uniquely positioned to further the uptake of whole-person care and to join colleagues in primary care who are doing the same. Healing and Cancer first defines what whole person cancer care is, and drawing on examples from around the world, illustrates how and why it needs to be standard in all of oncology. The authors describe the science behind whole person care and the evidence that supports its application, including real-world examples of how it’s being done in small clinics and large institutions, both academic and community-based. Finally, Healing and Cancer directs readers to the best tools and resources available so that cancer care teams, primary care clinicians, integrative practitioners and those with cancer can incorporate whole person care into the healing journey. Healing and Cancer is intended to be read and actively used by teams caring for people with cancer and by caregivers and patients themselves to enhance healing, health, and wellbeing.

Cancer Supportive Care

Cancer Supportive Care PDF Author: Ernest H. Rosenbaum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781894042116
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description


Take Control of Your Cancer

Take Control of Your Cancer PDF Author: James W. Forsythe
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1936661802
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Cancer rates continue to skyrocket, and the overall survival rate for Stage IV cancer patients in the United States is a grim 2.1 percent. Clearly, the extensive use of expensive, sometimes ineffective toxins in conventional oncology protocols is a failing strategy. Even the few survivors of these harsh slash-and-burn treatments can have dismal quality of life, suffering with ailments such as nerve damage, heart muscle disease, and liver and kidney failure. And unfortunately, many conventional doctors discourage patients from exploring alternative treatment options. A featured doctor in Suzanne Somers' bestselling cancer book Knockout, forty-year oncology veteran James W. Forsythe, M.D., H.M.D, offers a more cost-effective, personalized, and compassionate alternative to traditional cancer treatment in Take Control of Your Cancer: Integrating the Best of Alternative and Conventional Treatments. Dr. Forsythe's integrative approach has yielded an astonishing 46 percent positive response rate in a 500-patient study. In Take Control of Your Cancer, you will find information on all stages of cancer, including: • Warning signs of cancer • How to pinpoint the causes of cancer and to avoid recurrence • Preventative measures such as healthy diet and regular exercise • Overview of how to choose what drugs and supplements to use • How to take charge of your cancer treatment and maintain a positive attitude • Successful case studies of 40 of Dr. Forsythe's Stage IV cancer patients While Dr. Forsythe offers his patients conventional and alternative therapies on their own as well as an integrative option, Take Control of Your Cancer encourages cancer patients and their families to explore their treatment options and look for doctors who personalize treatment for optimal outcomes.

Psychosocial Nursing Care Along the Cancer Continuum

Psychosocial Nursing Care Along the Cancer Continuum PDF Author: Nancy Jo Bush
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781635930030
Category : Cancer
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Preceded by Psychosocial nursing care along the cancer continuum / edited by Rose Mary Carroll-Johnson, Linda M. Gorman, Nancy Jo Bush. 2nd ed. c2006.

Improving Palliative Care for Cancer

Improving Palliative Care for Cancer PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309074029
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
In our society's aggressive pursuit of cures for cancer, we have neglected symptom control and comfort care. Less than one percent of the National Cancer Institute's budget is spent on any aspect of palliative care research or education, despite the half million people who die of cancer each year and the larger number living with cancer and its symptoms. Improving Palliative Care for Cancer examines the barriersâ€"scientific, policy, and socialâ€"that keep those in need from getting good palliative care. It goes on to recommend public- and private-sector actions that would lead to the development of more effective palliative interventions; better information about currently used interventions; and greater knowledge about, and access to, palliative care for all those with cancer who would benefit from it.

Life Over Cancer

Life Over Cancer PDF Author: Keith Block
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0553801147
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
Dr. Keith Block is at the global vanguard of innovative cancer care. As medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, he has treated thousands of patients who have lived long, full lives beyond their original prognoses. Now he has distilled almost thirty years of experience into the first book that gives patients a systematic, research-based plan for developing the physical and emotional vitality they need to meet the demands of treatment and recovery. Based on a profound understanding of how body and mind can work together to defeat disease, this groundbreaking book offers: • Innovative approaches to conventional treatments, such as “chronotherapy”–chemotherapy timed to patients’ unique circadian rhythms for enhanced effectiveness and reduced toxicity • Dietary choices that make the biochemical environment hostile to cancer growth and recurrence, and strengthen the immune system’s ability to attack remaining cancer cells • Precise supplement protocols to tame treatment side effects, relieve disease-related symptoms, and modify processes like inflammation and glycemia that can fuel cancer if left untreated • A new paradigm for exercise and stress reduction that restores your strength, reduces anxiety and depression, and supports the body’s own ability to heal • A complete program for remission maintenance–a proactive plan to make sure the cancer never returns Also included are “quick-start” maps to help you find the information you need right now and many case histories that will support and inspire you. Encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative, Life over Cancer is the guide patients everywhere have been waiting for.