This program -- the first structured communications initiative at a comprehensive cancer center -- is designed to find the most effective and lasting way to train surgeons, oncologists, and others to communicate in a sensitive and productive manner. This initiative is also the only one of its kind to have a dedicated staff of facilitators and dedicated laboratory space, which includes a classroom and six video-recording training rooms equipped with appropriate state-of-the-art technology.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center recognizes the need to provide physicians at all stages of their careers with reinforcement and training specifically tailored to serve oncology patients with different diagnoses. The training component is tailored for fellows and residents undertaking an oncology training program, as well as to targeted disease management teams, such as those for breast and gynecologic cancers, which have already begun to address communication issues. Ultimately, it will be expanded to serve all senior clinicians, fellows, residents, nurses, social workers, and all other members of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's multidisciplinary treatment teams.
New Behavioral Science faculty members Carma Bylund, PhD, and Richard Brown, PhD, bring special experience in assessing, coding, and providing feedback to oncologists on recordings made of their clinical consultations, so that pre- and post-training assessments are routinely undertaken to monitor the outcome of the educational programs mounted by this laboratory.
Faculty Members
