Erika Hamilton, Chair, Executive Committee Breast and Breast Program Lead at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, shared a post on LinkedIn by Sakditad Saowapa, Hematology/Oncology Fellow at the University of Iowa, adding:
“Shout it from the rooftops. Respectful patient first language is so important.
I know people don’t mean it in a negative way, they have just adopted shortcuts in medical speech…but no one wants to be reduced to the disease they have when reading a provider note.”
Quoting Sakditad Saowapa‘s post:
“Review of RCC abstracts at ASCO 2023: ~60% used dehumanizing or blaming language
Common issues:
- ‘cancer patients’ instead of ‘patients with cancer’
- ‘patient failed therapy’ (blame language)
- Shorthand labels like nonresponders, HER2 positives, responders
- Defining patients by disease features or treatment response
Only modest improvement since ASCO’s 2020 respectful language guidance
Clear takeaway: patients are people first – our language should reflect that.”
Title: Don’t Do Me Like That: Promoting Respectful Language in Oncology Research
Author: Jeffrey Peppercorn
Read the full article on JCO Oncology Practice.
More posts featuring Sakditad Saowapa on OncoDaily.