1, pay attention to address
American psychologist Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Human Needs” believes that people have the need to respect and be respected. Everyone is very sensitive to his or her own name, and first-time cancer patients are usually reluctant to interact with others, therefore, they should take the initiative to greet the patients. The main skills of greeting should be different according to the patient’s status, age, occupation and his or her age, and be accurate and appropriate. If the patient is a cadre, intellectual, generally called the position, title or “leader” “comrade”; is a worker, mostly called “master”, young patients are mostly called “small + surname” “small + surname + comrade”, farmers can be called “comrade” “old comrade” according to age and gender “old man” “old lady” “sister-in-law” and so on. In recent years, it is customary to call “Mr.”, “Miss”, “Mrs.”, “Man” and “Ms.”. “Ms.”.
2. Language skills for explaining the disease
Among cancer patients who have just learned of their diagnosis, most of them have anxiety and depression. When patients are told of their illness, their psychological reactions can be divided into 6 stages, namely, experience period, doubt period, fear period, fantasy period, despair period and calm period. Therefore, when explaining the disease to the patient, we should also use the scientific explanation skills and artistry according to each stage of psychological reaction of cancer patients, so that the patient can pass through the six stages calmly.
When a patient is first diagnosed with cancer, there are psychological changes in the experience and doubt periods. At this time, the patient’s most important concern is not his or her condition and physical status, but whether he or she has the ability to take care of the family, whether he or she can be as attractive as before, whether he or she can maintain friendships, whether he or she can maintain relationships with children, whether he or she can maintain close relationships with his or her spouse, and whether he or she can continue to take care of the family and spouse.
In the past, families of patients, and even many workers in cancer research, did not pay attention to the real psychological characteristics of patients at this time, but only one-sidedly believed that telling cancer patients about their illness would have serious negative effects on them. As a result, the patient’s family and health care providers kept information from the patient as a party to the disease, which made the patient’s mood worse. Legally this is also contrary to the patient’s right to know. Further research has found that cancer patients place a high priority on receiving information, needing information about their disease and wanting to know as much as possible about their condition. At the same time, telling cancer patients about their disease can reduce their fear and anxiety, promote their understanding of the disease, and fully mobilize their physical and psychological potential to fight cancer. This is also the first step to help patients accept cancer and make good emotional adjustment, and help reduce some adverse reactions in cancer treatment.
The key is to grasp the proportion of language and use scientific language skills and the art of polite modification, such as saying “poor effect” as “not satisfactory enough” and “untreatable” as “slow to get better”. “The patient’s psychological ability should be taken into account. At the same time, patients should be treated differently according to their psychological ability, personality, cultural connotation, education level, and severity of the disease. For those who have good psychological ability, cheerful personality and mild illness, they can be directly told about their illness. For those with poor tolerance, introverted personality, and serious illness, attention should be paid to gradually pass the information to the patient in stages and according to the degree of malignancy of the illness, starting from light. Give enough time for the patient to accept the fact that he/she has cancer. When the information about cancer is delivered for the first time, be sure to pay close attention to the patient’s psychological reaction and behavioral changes. Give psychological help in time. Make them pass through the psychological experience safely.
3.Misunderstanding of communication with patients
How to communicate with cancer patients is a topic that has been paid attention to in the medical field. Due to the geographical and cultural differences, there are many different features in communication with cancer patients in different countries. In China, although some mature rules have been formed on how to communicate positively and effectively with cancer patients, friends and relatives of cancer patients in real life are relatively unfamiliar with these communication principles, thus they are somewhat blind and sometimes there is a situation that good intentions do not produce good results. The following are the most common miscommunications to be aware of when communicating with cancer patients.
Fussiness and Anxiety Resonance
Never show fussiness or express anxiety resonance when meeting with a cancer patient for the first time. In fact, cancer patients generally have some information about their condition and are anxious about their condition and prognosis. If the visitor shows great anxiety, it will infect and aggravate the heavy negative emotion of the patient and affect the overall state of the patient.
Dismissive as if nothing happened
It is also important not to pretend to be indifferent and dismissive when communicating with cancer patients. The value of our cultural background is group, so it is an inner desire for patients to receive sympathy and attention from family and friends when they are ill. If the visitor treats the patient’s condition with extra calmness and looks through, this can bring psychological frustration to the patient. Patients need the power of social support, and the care and positive encouragement from family and friends are the source of confidence and strength for cancer patients to overcome the disease.
Tracing the cause of regret
In the communication with cancer patients, we should be careful not to follow the patients to trace the origin of their medical history. The cause of cancer is multi-factorial and the process of cancer discovery has its inevitability and chance. It is an ineffective emotional release if the attitude towards the disease is not present-oriented but immersed in the memory of the onset process. Visitors tend to follow and guide patients to recall their perceived “faults” in the process of diagnosis and treatment, which actually adds to the patient’s psychological shadow and makes it difficult for the patient to get rid of the nagging memories and to face the current effective response.
Inducing random ideas
It is a good thing to give cancer patients some ideas, but many patients’ friends and relatives will give them a lot of misleading advice regardless of the limitations of their medical knowledge and the authenticity of the information they have received. Usually, patients are in a very vulnerable state to cope with themselves, so they are very concerned about the advice of their friends and relatives, and they may even ignore the doctor’s advice, talk about rational thinking, disregard the scientific basis, and follow the random guidance. Many cancer patients may respond in a way that is contrary to medical science in the process of diagnosis, treatment and recovery, and many of them come from misleading communication with others.
Blind compliance is counterproductive
Patient-centeredness is the humanistic philosophy of modern medicine. However, this is not the same as blindly complying with all the patient’s demands. It is a common phenomenon for people with cancer to be compliant, and friends and family may respond to the patient’s requests unprincipled out of a high degree of compassion in their communication with the patient. Cancer patients often experience cognitive misinterpretations secondary to their illness, and they have difficulty self-reflecting. However, misinterpreted thoughts can lead to adverse emotions and maladaptive behaviors. If communication with cancer patients responds to their misinterpreted perceptions, it reinforces the patient’s dysfunctional thoughts and thus links negative emotional and behavioral responses, which can be counterproductive to the overall decline in the patient’s status.
Arbitrary extrapolation to imagine the future
Giving encouragement to cancer patients to boost their confidence in recovery is a much needed supportive topic in communication with patients. The idea is that these supports should be scientific, reasonable, appropriate and just right. If you ignore this scale and talk to patients about a bright future, it is difficult to achieve the effect of motivating patients’ courage and confidence. Cancer patients should be given hope, but not empty words in isolation from the reality of their condition. Encouragement should be motivated on a well-founded basis, otherwise it is difficult to achieve the internal motivation of patients to be hopeful.