New book from Institute researcher, Dignity in Care: The Human Side of Medicine helps shape the future of patient care

Senior Scientist at CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute, Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov has published a new book, Dignity in Care: The Human Side of Medicine, providing insight into how the disposition and attitude of healthcare providers indelibly shape patient experience.

Written for all professions that interact with patients as a part of their work, Dignity in Care: The Human Side of Medicine gives readers unique insight into how they can create better experiences for their patients. It focuses on kindness and compassion in healthcare, outlining a humanistic approach that helps patients feel not just cared for, but cared about.

These ideas are the distillation of decades of research that Dr. Chochinov has been working on since the 1990s. While early studies focused on traditional psychiatric issues, later studies expanded to include broader psychological, spiritual, and existential challenges faced by patients. This research speaks to the heart of person-centred care. Insights and
approaches based on this body of work are starting to be incorporated into standards of both palliative care and in wider oncological care, as well as other healthcare fields around the world.

In the course of writing his new book, Dr. Chochinov interviewed 30 to 40 healthcare professionals — many of whom were CancerCare Manitoba providers, including oncologists, nurses, social workers, radiation therapy clerks, and others. Their stories have been a key part of illustrating how the research in this area can be translated into patient care.