Importance of Patient Provider Communication

Lisa Holle, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, associate clinical professor at the University of Connecticut, explains the importance of patient-provider communication during the 2019 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Lisa Holle, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA: I think the importance of the patient-provider, and whether the provider is a physician, a pharmacist or an entire health care team, it doesn’t matter, I thinks it’s best to have a whole team involved so you get everybody’s input, is critical to optimizing outcomes in patients. And it can be from the level of talking about screening, because there are risks and benefits, but it’s also determining what the best treatment is for a patient because they have to understand what the likelihood of efficaciousness is with a particular treatment, as well all the risks that are associated with it, and that includes financial risk because many of these drugs are high-cost drugs. The continued conversation that a patient has with a provider, the health care team throughout the year continues on the cancer care is critical so that they can hopefully have a longevity and the best outcomes for treatment.