ER Physicians Need Current Source for Cancer Information

I am an emergency medicine physician who practices in a small town. We have one oncologist on our hospital staff. When oncology patients have problems outside of the oncologist’s office hours, they are routinely told to "go to the ER."

Since we sometimes have difficulty finding the oncologist when we have questions about his patients who have come to the ER, it is obviously critical that the emergency physicians have a much broader-than-usual knowledge base in oncology.

As you probably know, there are few good sources for current oncology information for the nononcologist, especially for emergency physicians. One of the sources I’ve found is Oncology News International, along with its companion publication ONCOLOGY.

Whether it’s information about the complications of chemotherapy, or the diagnosis of neoplastic disease, or the management of the cancer patient’s emotional needs, I’ve found that no other sources even begin to come close to your publications. Although the articles are obviously written for the practicing oncologist, the scope, content, and style make many of them relevant and useful for the non-oncologist who must deal with cancer patients and their problems.

I’ve discovered that I’m not the only professional in our hospital who has a need for and an interest in this information. I share every issue with our hospital’s oncology nurse and with interested physicians on our staff, so that the "readership" extends well beyond the solitary name on the subscription.

I would like to thank the publishers for the complimentary subscriptions and let the staff of these publications know how valuable their products are to me (and to all the others on the "read and pass it on" list) and therefore to the cancer patients (and their families) for whom I provide care in the emergency department.

C. D. Hardison, MD
Athens, Tennessee