NEW PROFESSIONALS

I’ve noticed a pleasing trend lately. More and more we are seeing the rise of helpful people in the health system. They come with various labels, nurse/practitioners, patient/navigators. Their role is to understand, inform, and guide patients through the maze of medical experts hired to assist them with complex problems. The cancer clinic has a patient/navigator who sees the whole picture, the way a family doctor might have done before we became specialized in treatments. The geriatric ward has a nurse/practitioner who gets to know the patients and learns how to work with their multiple disabilities and how to communicate effectively with their families. Members of my family have been greatly assisted by these professionals. I hope we will see more of them in the future.