“Communication is a collaborative endeavor. It requires clarification, resetting, and recalibration all the
way through the therapeutic relationship, at every level of where you connect with your healthcare team.”
– Dr. Mitch Winkler
How to Talk to Your Doctor
June 26, 2023 by
Research: What’s on the Horizon?
June 12, 2023 by
“With more sophisticated testing we can move away from
general estimates to more precise ones, guiding treatment.”
– Dr. Brian Burnette [Read more…]
Scanxiety
June 5, 2023 by
This week on Cancer Covered:
- The prevalence of anxiety among cancer patients
- Abe’s experience with testicular cancer
- Developing strategies for managing stress and anxiety related to a cancer diagnosis and treatment
- The value of increasing communication with medical professionals to ensure you fully understand your diagnosis and treatment plan
- Addressing the emotional and psychological impact of follow-up scans
- Recognizing and prioritizing self-care and seeking support from friends and family
- When to consider seeking therapy or counseling to help cope with the emotional impact of cancer
Death is Part of Our Job
January 16, 2023 by
David and Caitlin join us today to discuss how cancer invades our lives, moving from our professional life into our personal space. Caitlin shares how her father was diagnosed with three different types of cancer and how she felt about the overnight transition from visiting her husband at work for lunch to regularly visiting the clinic as her father’s caregiver. We discuss how our role as medical oncologists can impact how we handle death in our personal lives and how David and Caitlin talk to their children about death and dying, the uncomfortable convergence between our personal and professional lives when someone we know and love is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and what it’s like when we need to take care of a colleague’s family member. They also share their memories and experiences of involving hospice care, how grief and the grieving process impacts people differently, and how Caitlin’s father passing away impacted their perspectives on death and dying.
How to have Difficult Conversations
January 9, 2023 by
This week, we discuss what makes some conversations more difficult than others and why they’re so important to have with our patients. We discuss why oncologists should acknowledge and embrace the ‘uncomfortableness’ of having difficult conversations with their patients and share tips for delivering serious or difficult news. We discuss what ‘Red Level Concerns’ are and share tips to help healthcare professionals handle them more effectively and empathetically. We also discuss why it’s critical to validate a patient’s or caregiver’s concerns without passing judgment and the importance of remaining calm while having these difficult conversations with your patients.
Anatomy of Difficult Conversations
January 2, 2023 by
This week, we discuss the anatomy of a difficult conversation. We discuss the impact of delaying or avoiding a difficult conversation and explore what makes some conversations more difficult than others. We discuss how our emotions play a role in our interactions with patients and how we can cope with these emotions to improve patient care. We also discuss why healthcare workers must identify the difference between their feelings and their patients’ emotions and the steps we can take to set clear, healthy boundaries between our emotions and those of our patients.
Care Close to Home: What it Costs
December 26, 2022 by
This week, Dr. Brian Burnette, Dr. Ruth Warren, and Dr. Matthew Ryan join us to discuss our oncologists’ sacrifices to bring cancer care closer to home for our patients. We discuss the average costs and time investments associated with traveling to outreach clinics to provide cancer care to patients and what they do to plan and prepare for travel. We discuss the common mistakes they’ve made when traveling to outreach clinics, the amount of time they’ve spent away from their family and friends to treat our patients, and how they cope with spending so much time away from their loved ones. We also discuss why Green Bay Oncology decided to purchase a property near our outreach clinics and how our perspectives have changed since we began offering outreach clinic treatment.
Care Close to Home: Why it’s Important
December 19, 2022 by
Dr. Tony Jaslowski joins us today to discuss why providing cancer care close to home is important. We discuss the travel expenses often associated with receiving cancer treatments and why they often cause patients to delay their treatment. We discuss how often many cancer patients need to visit the oncologist for cancer treatments and how they typically feel after a round of treatment. We also discuss the psychological benefits of receiving cancer treatment at medical facilities closer to home as well as how outreach clinics impact the local communities.
[Read more…]
Care Close to Home: How it Started
December 12, 2022 by
When you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, the last thing you want to think about is, ‘How will I get to my treatment appointments.’ Yet, this is something many cancer patients nationwide often struggle with – especially those who live in smaller, more rural towns. While most cancer treatment clinics require patients to come to their facility for treatment, some clinics – like Green Bay Oncology – go above and beyond to ensure patients receive the care they need. And we do this by (literally) driving hundreds of miles out of our way almost every day of every week to all corners of Northeastern Wisconsin and upper Michigan. And while traveling this distance so frequently can prove to be challenging for our staff, we know it’s also what makes Green Bay Oncology the best at providing phenomenal, top-quality care to our patients.