New Online Tools Leads to Better Quality of Life for Cancer Patients
Cancer can lead people down a long and difficult treatment path, leading to a reduced quality of life by its victims and creating a traumatic and stressful life for their loved ones. Sometimes quality of life can be improved when cancer patients are not only receiving effective and attentive care by their oncologists and medical providers but are permitted the opportunity to share with their medical staff the severe symptoms and effects that come from cancer treatment. However, in a recent study, not only is sharing one’s cancer symptoms and side effects beneficial to the patients because they receive the cathartic benefits that come from sharing, but the patients who shared their complications were more likely to survive longer.
JAMA Study Finds That Cathartic Online Tool Can Lead to Higher Risk of Survival
A study recently published in the Journal of the Medical Association suggested that patients who utilized an online tool to report complications regularly from their home computers were more likely to survive longer, by almost half a year, which has been found to be longer than many of the new cancer drugs. There are a variety of different reasons for the success of the study and the impact of the online tool. For the researchers of the program, the improved quality of life, as well as the ability of medical professionals to spot complications before they evolved into serious, life-threatening illnesses, has led to a significant impact on the length of life of these patients. The patients, using their home computers and the online tool, were able to report regularly on their symptoms like nausea and fatigue without scheduling another appointment or trying to contact their doctors. Additionally, patients, because of their regular reporting, were receiving attention from their medical providers more regularly than scheduled appointments and could treat the symptoms more readily, allowing the patients to stay in their treatment plans longer.
Additional Reasons for the Increased Quality and Length of Life
The results of the study demonstrate that the online tool was so effective in maintaining quality and length of life by also decreasing the number of emergency room trips for the patients and the patients continued their chemotherapy on average for an additional two months (eight months as opposed to six months with no access to the online tool). Finally, the online tool gives patients the opportunity to report in real time the symptoms that they are feeling, whereas waiting for an appointment could lead to forgetting the issue or maybe not telling the doctor, especially when the patient feels the issue may be trivial.
The Importance of Continued Communication and Effective Attentiveness with Medical Professionals
The importance of quality of life and medical professional attentiveness is crucial for the survival of patients, regardless of the disorder from which they are suffering. Having an audience with your doctor regularly, even if it is through the medium of computers rather than face-to-face can allow you to feel heard and to spot consistent symptoms that could be dangerous if left untreated. For many medical professionals, out of sight can lead to out of mind, which not only compromises the treatment of an aggressive disease, but prevents a patient from feeling that his or her fight is worth it.
Charles County, MD Personal Injury Lawyers that Fight for You
Medical attentiveness is crucial to the survival of a patient. Having someone listen and validate a patient’s experience is not only cathartic but could help resolve any life-threatening consequences that an inattentive medical professional might otherwise miss. If your doctor’s malpractice leads to injury or harm for you or a loved one, it is important to consult with an experienced Maryland personal injury lawyer. Please call the Law Office of Robert R. Castro at (301) 804-2312 for a confidential consultation.
