Oncology Social Workers 'Just as Important' as Chemo - WebMD

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July 9, 2021 – Chemotherapy is a common treatment for many kinds of cancer, and, when successful, can help cancer patients live longer. But, experts say, another kind of therapy is just as important.

"Social workers are just as important in the treatment of cancer as chemotherapy," says Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, professor of medicine and deputy director of clinical services for the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In 2021, it would be difficult to imagine providing high-quality cancer care without social workers, he says.

The concept that cancer care is about making a diagnosis and administering therapy "is just not a valid hypothesis," said Shulman, who is also director of the Center for Global Cancer Medicine. "We need to meet all the needs of cancer patients."

Social workers are trained to help patients and their families cope with the physical, emotional, and social disruptions of cancer in ways that doctors don’t, he says.

"When it comes to the patient's psyche, family dynamics, and work, social workers can provide great advice and counsel," he says. For some problems, the patient will feel more comfortable talking to a social worker, and this conversation could have a direct impact on the patient's quality of life and even on the prognosis, he says.

Social workers have the expertise to identify and overcome roadblocks that can interfere with treatment outcomes, says Timothy W. Mullett, MD, professor of thoracic surgery at the University of Kentucky and medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Research Network in Lexington, KY.

Mullett became a passionate advocate for distress monitoring of cancer patients and the integration of social workers into the practice at Markey after his own brush with cancer.

My chemo nurses were the best, too. I will always remember them. Plus the social worker who made sure I got some cake when I had to have chemo on my birthday. ❤️🙏🦋 They were all as much a part of the treatment as the drugs were.

— Elizabeth Cahn (@ElizabethCahn) April 20, 2021

He had just returned from his second deployment to Afghanistan, where he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve Medical Corps.

"I had some abdominal pain, but we weren't in a facility that could do much of an evaluation, so I continued to work as a surgeon there," he recalled. "I had lost a fair amount of weight, and as I was coming home, I could feel that there was a mass in my liver."

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