Patient Reported Outcomes

I had an interesting conversation this week with Dr. Ethan Basch from Memorial Sloan Kettering.  He is a medical oncologist focused on prostate cancer and a leading researcher on the impact and value of patients reporting their treatment side effects and the impact that has on quality patient care.

Recently he received a grant from the NCI to create patient descriptions for the language that physicians use to report side effects in clinical trials.  This will be a meaningful step to help patients and physicians use the same language in reporting toxicities, which should improve patient/doctor communications and prove that patient self reporting ultimately improves patient care.

I was excited to speak to him and learn about his research and what he’s learned through the process.  It’s great to know there are physicians studying better methods to impact quality care and how to best engage patients in the process.  You can read more about his research here.

Clearly this is another example of the positive impact on quality care that can occur by having patients be an active participant in their care.  The paradigm is shifting and we at Navigating Cancer are excited to be a part of the movement.

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