Patient and Family Experience Summit

Dr Kate GrangerST5 Doctor in Elderly Medicine &

terminally ill cancer patient

About Me….

What I’m going to talk aboutExperiences as a patient

CommunicationUndergoing proceduresDeciding to stop chemotherapy

The impact of illness on me as a doctorCommunicationAdvocacyImportance of Palliative Care

My experience on the other side as a cancer patient

To me being a patient is…EmbarrassingUndignifiedFrighteningStressfulTime consumingIsolating

Simple as 1,2,3…

Listen

Imagine this scenario…I am aloneI am in agonyA junior doctor I have never met beforeTells me I have metastatic cancer…

He then leaves me without telling the nurses what he has just said, does not ask if I would like him to get anyone for me and I never see him again

Finding out my definitive diagnosisMy Consultant sees me with his junior teamHe asks if I want anyone with meAn appropriate warning shot is fired I am gently told that I have DSRCTHe holds my handWhen I break down emotionally and ask the

juniors to leave it is fineLots of quiet time for the news to settleMy questions are answered at an appropriate

level

Procedure after procedure• Retrograde bilateral ureteric stent insertion• 3 x nephrostomies• 2 x omental biopsies• Hickman line insertion• Flexible cystoscopy and stent removal• Antegrade bilateral ureteric stent insertion• Hickman line removal• (and numerous venepunctures, cannulations,

intimate examinations etc)

Dignity!

Deciding to stop

New Year’s Eve 2011In hospital with febrile neutropaenia and peritonitisBurdens of treatment outweighing benefitsPerceived as ‘giving up’ by someRelief from othersConsultant tried to talk me into continuing…

Impact of terminal illness on me as a practising doctor

CommunicationImportance of the ‘Little Things’

Breaking bad newsRight time, right person, right setting, right

after-care

AdvocacyI can advocate for myself effectivelyMany of my patients cannot…

Palliative CareArguably the most important time in

healthcare terms for a patientPalliative Care is everyone’s business

Any questions?

To summariseSerious illness has had a major impact on me

as a doctorCommunication, communication,

communicationPatient-centred care is the Holy GrailPatients are individual people first and

foremost; they are not just disease entitiesTime to care

www.theothersidestory.co.uk

Shameless self-promotion…