What Does An Oncologist Do?
Cancer or malignant neoplasm is a harmful and deadly disease. The role of an oncologist in a patient’s progress is very important. Aside from making diagnosis and providing treatment, there are a lot of duties and responsibilities entailed with their profession. If you still don’t have any idea on what an oncologist does, continue reading for a quick overview of the duties, tasks and responsibilities.
What does an oncologist do?
Below is a list of jobs an oncologist performs:
- Conduct proper assessment and review medical history.
- Identify symptoms present with the patient.
- Search for the location of malignant growth.
- Perform accurate staging and prognosis.
- Use available technology and procedures to diagnose and treat patients.
- Suggest treatment options available such as: chemotherapy, surgery, hormonal therapy or radiation.
- Provide consistent and close monitoring to ensure the treatment is successful.
- Treat side effects brought about by cancer and treatment such as: pain, body weakness and vomiting.
- Analyze and develop a treatment plan in prolonging a patient’s life.
- Educate the public in health promotion and preventive measures of cancer.
- Communicate all information to the patient and significant others regarding the prognosis and treatment.
- Collaborate with other members of the health care team in providing optimal care to the patient.
- Attend trainings, seminars and continuing education programs to improve and update knowledge and skills.
- Conduct research to improve treatment and diagnosis of cancer patients.
- Be flexible and work in different settings.
- Finalize examinations done such as: x-rays, biopsies, and tissue samples.
These are the important responsibilities an oncologist should perform. What adds up to the challenge of the job is that they include the family and significant others in the patient’s treatment plans. Most of the time, they bring bad news which could be very hard to deliver. Therefore, you must be accountable and emotionally stable before you decide to pursue this career.
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