8. Communicating about cancer

Healthcare should:

Patients have personal wishes, needs and concerns that demand the understanding and respect of the healthcare professional (HCP). Involving patients as full partners in decisions about treatment leads to better health outcomes. Patients' attitudes to the benefits and risks from treatment, and the extent to which they find adverse effects tolerable, can differ markedly from assumptions made by HCPs. Effective healthcare communication incorporates not only medical and dental information, but also sensitive discussion of the patients' emotional and social well-being. Information provided must always be culturally sensitive and tailored to the patient's ability to understand.

Communication, especially breaking bad news, such as about cancer, can help all involved, and reduce the inevitable distress experienced. Hope is all-important and management must include especial attention to psychological reactions. Patients may or may not know, or may not want to know, that they have malignant disease and, even if they are aware of it, may not appreciate, or be willing to accept, the prognosis. Denial is common.