Accompanying patients who face the ultimate fear: A fellowship in psycho-oncology

The day of my graduation from medical school, my father, a professor of internal medicine, reminded me that the most helpful thing in his practice had been to think of the patient as being the "center of gravity." The hospital strongly emphasized the importance of good-quality care and the power of communication when treating patients, something that can be crucial in cancer settings. [...]in a patient with a history of obsessive-compulsive disorder who has been admitted to the hospital to have major surgery, providing assistance in getting an individual hospital room and bathroom can mean the world to them. Providing tools and strategies to the treatment team--so that they can better communicate and understand the particular circumstances of a patient--will improve quality of care. Before I started treating patients with cancer, I remember reading a commentary written by a nationally known expert, who said that in palliative care we learn more from our patients than they learn from us.