Communication skills with oncology patients

Tumor patient, after the diagnosis is clear, is a major mental stimulation for the patient and his family, which not only causes great harm to the patient physically, but also brings serious trauma and emergency disorder psychologically and spiritually. Depression and anxiety and increase with the progress of the disease. They hope that someone will care for them, understand them, comfort them and complete the psychological adaptation process to cancer, so as to reduce the patient’s fear, depression and anxiety about the disease. Doctors and patients and their families are not opposites, but comrades in a trench, facing the disease together. How to make patients feel that medical personnel care for them and their families trust them, we must do a good job of doctor-patient communication. In doctor-patient communication, doctors should first learn to train communication skills and master communication knowledge and skills: 1. After clear diagnosis, according to the patient’s psychological condition, decide the depth of the conversation, or talk with the family first and then inform the patient. The treatment of tumor is a systematic project: including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, biological targeting and combined Chinese and Western medicine. How to integrate treatment, evidence-based, individualized selection of different methods, recommending to the patient what he thinks is appropriate for him according to his condition, describing the possible benefits of treatment that clearly outweigh its risks, and convincing the patient that the doctor’s recommendation is the best for him. Describe whether the treatment plan is curative or palliative and inform about the risks, complications and adverse effects of the treatment. Show that the doctor can relieve those pains and is about to deal with various complications, so that the patient is confident. 2. Be good at talking to patients rather than reprimanding them during communication. For the first meeting, you should sit down at the patient’s bedside and talk face to face to understand the patient’s recent condition and listen to the patient’s and family’s narrative with concentration and compassion to understand how much the patient knows about the condition. The doctor’s expression must be amiable, with beautiful and relatable language, trying to narrow the distance between the doctor and the patient, feeling that you care and value their concerns. At different stages of treatment, patients and families must be informed with real information so that they can actively participate in the whole process of disease diagnosis and treatment. 3. For terminal patients, they should be more caring, considerate and try their best to relieve their pain, even if they do a little thing for him, it is a kind of comfort and trust for them, and they feel that doctors and patients are very familiar and understand each other, and when patients know their condition, they can arrange the afterlife together, so that they can pass away quietly and relieved. From the ethical point of view, patients have the right to know their condition and doctors have the obligation to inform them. From the medical point of view, patients can receive surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other treatment measures only after they know their disease. Therefore, doctor-patient communication must master certain skills to reduce unnecessary friction, litigation, improve patient’s beliefs, and improve quality of life.