side effects of chemotherapy Archives

Doing Better and Feeling Worse: Patients with Long-term Conditions Describe Treatment Side Effects
Patient insights

Doing Better and Feeling Worse: Patients with Long-term Conditions Describe Treatment Side Effects

Doing Better and Feeling Worse: Patients with Long-term Conditions Describe Drug Side Effects By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH We live in fortunate times; people are now described as “living with” conditions. As an article in BioMed Central Health Services Research put it: Where previous generations experienced episodes of infectious and acute disease that were often rapidly lethal because there were few effective treatments,... major changes in the epidemiological and demographic landscape have led to increasing numbers of people with chronic or long term conditions such as diabetes and asthma; living with and surviving potentially life-limiting conditions, [...]

Understanding information needs during the patient journey: ovarian cancer

Understanding information needs during the patient journey: ovarian cancer By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD While patients see physicians as the primary and most trusted information resource, research indicates that patients with cancer also seek information elsewhere. Reasons for investigating further include 1) verification or double checking, 2) clarifying what they have learned and even obtaining translations of what they have heard from other patients who have “been there,” 3) being directed by one source to query another source1 and for those who reach out to other patients 4) trust and desire for real world experience in managing expectations. [...]

Video Vignettes: Through Your Own Lens – Dealing With Side Effects

Video Vignettes: Through Your Own Lens - Dealing With Side Effects You wouldn’t think that someone could speak with delight about an experience with diarrhea. Yet when Amy,* a lung cancer patient, speaks about her search for help with “horrific diarrhea” in the video below, she sounds happy. Her relief at finding answers that actually worked to stop this side effect is palpable. As she describes her experience, imagine yourself in her situation while undergoing treatment: experiencing unending GI urgency, or having such a severe scalp itch that it interrupts your ability to sleep and begins to [...]