Cancer Answers 123

How to Select an Oncologist

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the number and variety of doctors who are involved in your care as a cancer patient.

There is very good reason so many experts are required. Cancer treatments are most effective when provided by experienced specialists with particular areas of expertise. Here’s an overview of the types of cancer specialists you may be working with, separately or as part of a team:

Oncologists are physicians who study, diagnose, and treat cancer. Each oncologist trains initially as a specialist in a particular area, such as surgery or gynecology, and then narrows his or her focus to cancers within that specialty. So, for example, a medical oncologist is an internist who treats cancer of the internal organs with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and other medications, and a hematologic oncologist is an oncologist who treats cancers of the blood. Other specialties include gynecological, surgical, radiation, and pediatric oncology.

Naturopathic physicians prescribe natural therapies to slow tumor growth, strengthen the immune system through nutrition and to enhance conventional treatments.

Your relationship with oncologists has several phases, including diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare. You may work with the same doctors throughout or select a new team at some point. For example, if a second opinion differs from the original diagnosis and treatment approach, you’ll have to decide which doctor’s views you’re more comfortable with — or seek a third perspective. Or, you may be completely confident with an oncologist’s diagnosis but prefer to be treated at a different hospital than the one where that oncologist is on the staff.

It’s also worth switching oncologists if you don’t seem to click. People have different personalities and communication styles. Maybe your doctor doesn’t provide the encouragement you’re seeking, for example, or perhaps his or her treatment philosophy is to watch and wait while you’d rather take action, or the other way around. There’s nothing wrong with seeking a more compatible bond.