How Medical Social Workers Can Transform the Patient Experience

Who says you have to face cancer and all the stress that comes with a diagnosis alone? Accept a helping hand from a medical social worker to support you through one of the most difficult moments in your life.

A breast cancer diagnosis can set in motion a long and often complicated process on the road to recovery. As if focusing on surviving weren’t enough, the patient has to consider treatment and/or surgery schedules, financial concerns, transportation issues, the endless list of to-do’s at home (i.e., walking the dog, grocery shopping and cooking, etc), and much more. Sometimes patients who don’t have the support of family and friends can feel very alone and overwhelmed. This is where having a medical social worker in your corner can be most helpful.

“We’ll meet with [patients] everywhere. We’ll go with them to chemotherapy treatments and medical appointments. We’ll visit them on the floor after surgery to make sure a nurse will come home with them to help. [We’re with patients] throughout one of the most difficult times in their life from the moment they are diagnosed,” says Yannette Tactuk, a clinical oncology social worker at the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. In this video interview with Sonima.com’s founder Sonia Jones, Tactuk brings to light the crucial role social workers can play in helping breast cancer patients beat the disease.

By Sonia Jones
Published on May 3, 2016