Anthony Back, MD

As an oncologist, I am always on the lookout for good patient education material. This book, which is based on the experience of the Stanford Integrative Medicine Clinic Cancer Supportive Care Program, is a good choice for a highly literate, print-oriented patient or family member. The book is divided into five parts: (1) Cancer: Diagnosis, Information, and Treatment, (2) The Role of the Mind, (3) The Care of the Body, (4) Supportive and Social Services for Life and Death Issues, (5) Planning for the Future, and (6) Resources. These five parts are divided into 50 individual chapters covering specific topics, and the chapters are focused, concise, and practical.

Effective communication between patients and oncologists is an areaof active and growing research interest. Evidence-based recommendationscan be drawn from studies examining (1) the patient-physicianrelationship; (2) how physicians handle medical information; (3) howphysicians deal with patient emotions; (4) system-level communicationinterventions; (5) physician self-management, and (6) educational interventionsdesigned to improve communication. Existing research providesa great deal of descriptive data about patient-oncologist communication,although intervention studies that link communication to patientoutcomes are much less common.