Tools for Improving Access to Quality Endometrial Cancer Care
What proactive steps can endometrial patients take to access the best care? Gynecological cancer expert Dr. Nita Karnik Lee walks through self-advocacy steps that may encourage improved patient outcomes.
Dr. Nita Karnik Lee is a Gynecologic Oncologist at The University of Chicago Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Lee.
Related Programs:
|
Why Should Endometrial Cancer Patients Engage in Their Care? |
|
Transcript:
Katherine Banwell:
How is the medical community dealing with these disparities? How are they handling them?
Dr. Nita Karnik Lee:
You know, I think a lot of it is, again, sort of educating. You have to think about you want patient education. You want provider education. Sometimes I have patients who come to me and say, you know what, I reported these symptoms to my doctor, and they said it was nothing, or they told me it was a UTI. So, we often think about, when we’re making an intervention, we want to make sure that providers who are seeing patients first-line are also hearing about this as in their differential diagnosis, and that patients have enough knowledge that they feel really comfortable advocating for themselves. Many of our patients who are cancer survivors will tell us.
Or when they speak on their own in different ways or say listen to your body, make sure you’re advocating for yourself, and if somebody doesn’t listen, find another doctor. I hate to say it, but you just have to know that those are things that happen. I think structurally, as providers, we have to be really aware of our own biases that we bring to patients and their families and our own health system.
How are we set up to help people more? I think a lot of it is quick access to care. And so, I think that’s where we try to make some differences in terms of both policy and policy within a health system, and then larger policy that’s kind of maybe more not just one hospital, but statewide or nationwide.
Katherine Banwell:
You mentioned advocating for oneself and how important that is. If a patient feels like they’re not receiving good care or they’re being treated unfairly, what steps should they take to access better overall care?
Dr. Nita Karnik Lee:
Well, I mean, a little bit of it’s complicated, because so many of us are kind of limited by our insurance. We don’t always have the ability to do all the things. It can be scary, and it can be intimidating. I think one of the things that could be very helpful is to prepare yourself with a list of questions, to be like these are the questions. These are the things that I’m not feeling are being heard, and potentially even getting a second opinion. You can say this in a way that you can sort of feel like your doctor doesn’t need to feel bad.
I even think second opinions, for me, I’m all for them. More information is better. That’s a way of positing it and saying, look, I know we’ve gone through these symptoms. These are my concerns. I don’t think they’re being addressed, and I would really like to get another opinion. Physicians are often like, yes, get another opinion. And so, those are ways that I think people can find the right fit for the physician that they want.
