Cancer care as an integrated practice: Consultations between an oncologist and patients with advanced, incurable cancer

Oncological care is going through a transformation from a practice in which the patient is the object of the medical practitioner’s implementation of anti-tumour therapies to a multifaceted practice where the patient is an active participant in a dialogic relationship with a medical practitioner. The oncologist’s role is far from simple. Surbone, Zwitter, Rajer and Stiefel (2012) suggest diagnostics, treatment and communication as the three pillars of oncology. Cherny and Catane (2011) add palliation to this list. The development of oncology practice management, psycho-oncology and palliative oncology as interdisciplinary fields of study and the introduction of palliative medicine into oncological care show the complexity and the diversity of the competing demands on the oncolo-gist. This cultural shift entails a diversification in the range of business considered as part of the purview of the oncologist.