How can patients with AML and their care partners feel empowered? Dr. Eric Winer, an AML expert, discusses the crucial role of the healthcare team and emphasizes the importance of open communication, asking questions, and understanding the care plan. 

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Transcript: 

Katherine Banwell:

As a provider, Dr. Winer, how do you empower care partners and patients who have been diagnosed with AML? 

Dr. Eric Winer:

From a provider standpoint, one of the most important things we need to do is listen and try to understand, first of all, what the patient is going through, and what the patient needs. Like I said, that’s where this is a team approach. It’s a team approach from not just a standpoint of patient and caregiver, patient and physician, patient and nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, patient and social worker. 

This is a traumatic experience, and there are things that we can try to do to make it less traumatic, but one of the best ways to make it less traumatic is making sure patients are informed, that patients understand plans, that patients understand what’s going to be happening. One of the biggest concerns with any of these diseases is the unknown. There is a certain amount of unknown that I can’t predict.  

I can’t say to somebody you will or will not respond, but what I can say is, listen, here is what we’re going to be doing over these next few weeks, and here is our short-term plan, and here is our long-term plan, and making sure that we’re all on the same roadmap.  

I think that’s really important in terms of empowering the patients. The other thing that is important is that the patients should feel comfortable asking questions, because we’re not expecting our patients to be experts in leukemia. We’re expecting our patients to be the patients. I think of us, in terms of the clinicians, as being sherpas. We’re guiding people through this process, but the reality is they’re doing all the work. We’re just the guides, and so it’s important as guides that we make sure all these questions are answered, all of the information is given to the patient, and that the patient asks for that information.  

The other thing that is important, that is a little overlooked, is taking care of the caregivers as well. It’s very difficult to be a patient, but it’s also difficult to take care of a loved one or a friend during this time. So, it’s important that the caregivers have an adequate understanding as well about what’s going on, and what we expect to be coming forward in the next days and weeks so that they can plan for these processes as well.