Phone calls help cancer patients
Related: Cancer, live longer, Patients, Phone calls, study
If you leave a patient alone in a room they will wither, much like a plant, while if that patient has social interaction they will perk up like a plant that has been watered. It’s common sense. So asking nurses to reach out to people who have advanced cancer, even if just by phone, can improve a patients’ mood and quality of life. It makes sense and that’s what a study in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association reports.
Nurses in the study of 322 cancer patients were trained in palliative care, which focuses on relieving pain and coordinating the medical and social needs of people with long-term illness. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive regular phone consultations and half only their regular care. All of the patients had just started treatment and weren’t expected to live more than a year.
Nurses discussed issues like coping strategies, communicating with a doctor, finding support, managing symptoms and planning for the end of life. They also referred patients to people who could help with other problems, such as depression or financial troubles.
While it may be chance, patients who received such care lived slightly longer. We don’t think it was chance at all though.
Last Updated on August 19th, 2009
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