Cancer Health Care Consultants: What to Look for

If you have recently been diagnosed with cancer and feel like you are grasping at straws for answers then you may want to consider hiring a cancer health care consultant to help you. A quality cancer health care consultant will be able to coordinate your medical care, surgeries, pre op and post op care, emotional and spiritual support, as well as provide you with all of the information you want about your cancer and the various treatments that are available to you. If you feel that having a professional help you with managing your cancer, then there are certain characteristics that you will want to look for in your cancer health care consultant.

Medical Knowledge

Your cancer health care consultant should have a strong medical background, especially relating to oncology and cancer diagnosis and treatment options. They should also be able to explain your condition and the various treatment options to you in a manner that you are able to easily understand, and they should be willing and able to provide your with supplemental literature and referrals to other professionals that will help you understand your condition. They should also provide you with information about what you should expect during and after treatments, and what warning signs you should look for. Infection control is another area that your consultant should address, especially if you select to use chemotherapy or major surgery as a treatment option.

In addition to having excellent knowledge of various cancers and their diagnosis and treatment, they should also have connections with various other professionals in the oncology field and rehabilitative services that they can refer you to. For example, if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer you may need to be referred to psychologists and prosthetic professionals to help you deal with the emotional and physical effects of breast cancer treatment.

Finally your consultant’s medical knowledge should span all of the available treatments that are available for your type of cancer. They should not limit your choices for treatments based on their own prejudices, but they should instead provide you with the pros and cons of all treatment options, no matter how controversial the treatment may be.

Support Team Organization

One of the largest roles that your cancer health care consultant will play is the organizer of your cancer care support team. This means that they will work with you to build a cancer care team that will provide you with the emotional, medical, psychological, and physical care and support that you need in order to get through your cancer treatments, and recover your strength and quality of life. They should have a game plan that first assesses what support you will need, that secondly recruits support team members, and that finally maintains cohesion of the support team as long as you need them.

Educator

As mentioned earlier, your cancer health care consultant needs to have a firm understanding of cancer and its treatments. This knowledge is not only used to help diagnose your condition and select treatment options for you, but it is also utilized to educate you about your condition and the options that you have available to you. The importance of educating yourself is so that you can make informed decisions about the types of services and treatments you want to accept, and so that you understand what you need to do to prevent medical deterioration during and after treatment. You should ask for a list of books and magazine articles to read, as well as professional literature and videos that can give you a better understanding of what to expect and exactly what is happening to your body. You may also want to ask your cancer health care consultant if there are support groups, or other patients with a similar case that you can talk to. Sharing experiences with cancer survivors is a great way to learn what home remedies work to stay off side effects of chemotherapy, and what alternative therapies are helpful at managing side effects. Your cancer health care consultant is your mentor in your cancer learning mission, and they should be able to provide you with information and guidance in a supportive and non-condescending manner.

Personality

While you may not select a doctor based entirely on their personality, because of the intimate nature of your relationship with a cancer health care consultant, it is important to find a provider that you can easily relate to. They should have a personality that is empathetic and sympathetic to your situation, and who is willing to take your feelings and points of view into consideration when designing a treatment plan.

Conclusion

When you are looking for a cancer health care consultant you want to find a person who is qualified. The qualifications that are most important in a cancer health care consultant are: large base of medical knowledge and resources, teaching skills, listening skills, open mind, ability to communicate, and ability to organize your support team. Asking questions and educating yourself will be your tools to selecting the best treatments, and finding the best people to include in your support team. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and expect answers from your medical team, especially from potential cancer health care consultants. Because they will be an important part of your life, and your lifeline to a successful recovery from your cancer, you want to find a person that is able to connect with you on an emotional level as well as a professional level.