Cancer
fromPsychology Today
1 week agoDiagnosis Disclosure and Cancer
The disclosure of a cancer diagnosis significantly affects patient communication and perception of illness.
"I told him, 'These are the things I'm concerned about; these are the risks if we run out of medications, or if we run out of oxygen, or if we're not able to get you off the mountain in two or three days.' I would like to think that we, whether it's as physicians or patients, should be able to talk about risk in a little bit more of a realistic, humane way."
American healthcare has long suffered from a structural mismatch: the system generates enormous demand for patient communication while the clinical workforce available to meet it continues to shrink. The World Health Organization projects a global shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030, and the gap is already visible in overloaded intake queues, missed follow-up calls, and patients left without support between appointments.