“How do we address the individual needs of our patients and assure a positive experience for each and every patient? And how do we help the patient successfully navigate the existential crisis engendered by the new diagnosis of head and neck cancer?”
Asking and answering these questions provides the environment to achieve success in a patient-centric universe, said Dennis H. Kraus, MD, director of the Center for Head and Neck Oncology, the New York Head and Neck Institute, and Northwell Health Cancer Institute in New York City in a presidential address he gave to the American Head and Neck Society (JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2016;142:1231–1232).
Dr. Kraus highlighted the need for head and neck surgeons and the entire care team to be empathetic with their patients and the myriad challenges they face in making treatment decisions, an important component of which includes the quality of survivorship.