The Essential Role of Clinical Social Work in Oncology

While oncologists, surgeons, and nurses form the core of a patient’s medical support, an essential piece of the multidisciplinary care team is the clinical social worker. To shed light on this crucial role, Kelly Dyckman, MSW, LCSW, spoke with CancerNetwork®, regarding how a patient’s emotional and relational health is inextricably linked to their physical well-being and their overall response to treatment.

Dyckman’s primary focus is on the emotional landscape of the patient, providing a vital psycho-social assessment that complements the medical team’s clinical data. While a doctor is rightfully focused on treating the cancer, Dyckman is tasked with considering how that intensive treatment plan—from chemotherapy to post-operative recovery—is truly impacting the patient.

Moreover, as a clinical social worker, Dyckman offers support to the patient’s entire care team. The stress of a caregiver can often create additional guilt and anxiety for the patient, which can have downstream implications for their physical health. By supporting family members and providing them with resources, Dyckman can help to alleviate stress for the entire family unit.

Dyckman is a licensed clinical social worker at Navesink Wellness Center.

Transcript:

Being a clinical social worker can be valuable in a care team and a medical team. I am primarily focused on [a patient’s] emotional well-being, and there’s also considerations as to how emotional well-being influences physical health relationships. To have a clinical social work assessment on the patient and the patient's well-being is important. When we are talking about cancer, in particular, it’s impossible not to consider the implications of treatment, surgeries, and all the different aspects that cancer can have on that person’s individual well-being.

Obviously, the doctor is focused on addressing [and] treating the cancer, and doing the best they can to resolve the cancer situation. My responsibility is to consider how that treatment plan is impacting that [patient], emotionally, psychologically, relationally, what that looks like in their day-to-day life from a functionality perspective, because without that input, the doctor and nurses may be missing crucial cues as to what’s working, what’s not working.

In the past, when I have worked with people in a treatment setting, considering how they are responding to chemotherapy from a physical standpoint, and what that looks like emotionally, what that looks like relationally––how is the patient functioning at home? What does that look like on post-treatment? What does that look like pre-treatment? If the doctor and nurse team do not have that information, there may be steps they can offer to support that patient, to assist them in navigating it more effectively.

If anxiety spikes before chemotherapy, [a patient] may need a session with me, or somebody may benefit from psychotropic medication in support of navigating the treatment process. If a caretaker is having a difficult time, resulting in guilt and anxiety by the patient, being able to support that family member, give them additional support resources can alleviate some of the additional stress, additional anxiety that may have implications for the physical health and well-being of that patient, that if we do not have eyes on the human being, we can lose a lot in translation.