Cancer, Emotions, and Nurses
SAMUEL C. KLAGSBRUN M.D.1
1 Director, Psychiatric Day Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital Center, 421 W. 113th St., New York, N. Y. 10025
The author describes a psychiatric consultation program in a cancer research unit. First the nurses were helped to handle their feelings in regard to terminally ill patients. Later an experiment in self-care by the patients was undertaken; it improved the patients' morale by permitting them to see themselves as continuing to be productive human beings. The resulting changed ward culture represents, in the author's opinion, a workable approach to the problem of patient management on a cancer unit.
