Cancer Health Care Consultants: What to
Look for Qualities that Your Cancer Health Care Consultant Should Have
If you have recently been diagnosed with cancer and
feel like you are grasping at straws for answers then you may want to consider
hiring a cancer health care consultant to help you. A quality cancer health
care consultant will be able to coordinate your medical care, surgeries, pre op
and post op care, emotional and spiritual support, as well
as provide you with all of the information you want about your cancer and the
various treatments that are available to you. If you feel that having a
professional help you with managing your cancer, then there are certain
characteristics that you will want to look for in your cancer health care
consultant.
Medical Knowledge
Your
cancer health care consultant should have a strong medical background,
especially relating to oncology and cancer diagnosis and treatment options.
They should also be able to explain your condition and the various treatment
options to you in a manner that you are able to easily understand, and they
should be willing and able to provide your with supplemental literature and
referrals to other professionals that will help you understand your condition.
They should also provide you with information about what you should expect
during and after treatments, and what warning signs you should look for.
Infection control is another area that your consultant should address,
especially if you select to use chemotherapy or major surgery as a treatment
option.
In
addition to having excellent knowledge of various cancers and their diagnosis
and treatment, they should also have connections with various other
professionals in the oncology field and rehabilitative services that they can
refer you to. For example, if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer you may need to be referred to
psychologists and prosthetic professionals to help you deal with the emotional
and physical effects of breast cancer treatment. Finally your consultant's
medical knowledge should span all of the available treatments that are
available for your type of cancer. They should not limit your choices for
treatments based on their own prejudices, but they should instead provide you
with the pros and cons of all treatment options, no matter how controversial
the treatment may be.
Support Team Organization
One of
the largest roles that your cancer health care consultant will play is the
organizer of your cancer care support team. This means that they will work with
you to build a cancer care team that will provide you with the emotional,
medical, psychological, and physical care and support that you need in order to
get through your cancer treatments, and recover your strength and quality of
life. They should have a game plan that first assesses what support you will
need, that secondly recruits support team members, and that finally maintains
cohesion of the support team as long as you need them.
Educator
As
mentioned earlier, your cancer health care consultant needs to have a firm understanding of cancer and its
treatments. This knowledge is not only used to help diagnose your condition and
select treatment options for you, but it is also utilized to educate you about
your condition and the options that you have available to you. The importance
of educating yourself is so that you can make informed decisions about the
types of services and treatments you want to accept,
and so that you understand what you need to do to prevent medical deterioration
during and after treatment. You should ask for a list of books and magazine
articles to read, as well as professional literature and videos that can give
you a better understanding of what to expect and exactly what is happening to
your body. You may also want to ask your cancer health care consultant if there
are support groups, or other patients with a similar case that you can talk to.
Sharing
experiences with cancer survivors is a great way to learn what home remedies
work to stay off side effects of chemotherapy, and what alternative therapies
are helpful at managing side effects. Your
cancer health care consultant is your mentor in your cancer learning mission,
and they should be able to provide you with information and guidance in a
supportive and non-condescending manner.
Personality
While you
may not select a doctor based entirely on their personality, because of the
intimate nature of your relationship with a cancer health care consultant, it
is important to find a provider that you can easily relate to. They should have a personality that is empathetic and sympathetic to
your situation, and who is willing to take your feelings
and points of view into consideration when designing a treatment plan.
Conclusion
When you
are looking for a cancer health care consultant you want to find a person who
is qualified. The qualifications that are most important in a
cancer health care consultant are: large base of medical knowledge and resources,
teaching skills, listening skills, open mind, ability to communicate, and
ability to organize your support team. Asking
questions and educating yourself will be your tools to selecting the best treatments, and finding the best people to include in your support team. Don't be afraid to
ask questions and expect answers from your medical team, especially from
potential cancer health care consultants. Because they will be an important part of
your life, and your lifeline to a successful
recovery from your cancer, you want to find a person that is able to connect
with you on an emotional level as well as a professional level.
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