are being more rigorously trained
in effectively conveying difficult-to-hear news, Schapira says. “We
absolutely recognize that when
we [oncologists] deliver bad news
we have a huge impact,” says
Schapira, the chairwoman of
the American Society of Clinical
Oncology’s Lifelong Learning
Committee. “And it’s very difficult
to get it right.”
DAMIEN SAATDJIAN
EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS
During the intense study and rote
memorization of medical training,
it’s easy for oncologists to become
disproportionately focused on
the science, Saraiya says. “Along
the way, I felt like I lost the
human curiosity that got me to
be interested in oncology in the
first place,” he says. “You are so
focused on the factual information
that you sort of forget that there
is a story behind this patient.”
Oncologist Joel S. Policzer, a
hospice and palliative medicine
specialist who trains medical
students in communication,
believes that powerful drugs, high-tech tools and lofty goals—most
notably, to cure cancer—can
entice a physician to specialize
When oncologists struggle with the emotional components of their jobs, the consequences become apparent
CR | Page No. 47 | www.CRmagazine.org
