- The person you’re treating is not just a “patient,” but an individual, with a life, a brain, and a heart.
- Listen to those you treat and their loved ones.
- Give essential information. Be honest, and don’t abolish hope.
- Be kind and respectful. Let the people in your care keep their dignity.
- Encourage those for whom you care to deal with each item as it arises, and not to anticipate several steps in advance. Understand that this is easier said than done.
- Realize what you do and don’t know. If you don’t know something, learn it or ask someone who does.
- Treat as you would want to be treated. The white coat doesn’t make you immune. One day, you may be on the other side.
- Relieve pain; be generous with anesthesia. Alleviate anxiety and fear; cancer can be scary.
- Cure us or put us into remission, if you can. If not, help each of us live what we perceive to be the best life possible.
- Understand that the experience of cancer isn’t over when therapy is complete: it’s survivorship.
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