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| Associate Professor Ranjana Srivastava |
Associate Professor Srivastava, who is also a Monash Health
Senior Oncologist, is a regular columnist with the Guardian Australia newspaper and website. Her columns touch on the
patient-clinician relationship, integrity in medicine, and how the healthcare
system manages complex issues such as end-of-life care and chronic pain
management.
‘Healthcare from the
frontline,’ published in March this year, earned Associate Professor Srivastava
a nomination for the ‘2018 Walkey Award for Commentary, Analysis, Opinion, and
Critique.’
Associate Professor Srivastava explains why communication is
so important.
You’re an oncologist. Why do you also write?
I have always found solace in writing and have often said
that I write primarily for myself but if my writing resonates with other
people, it's the icing on the cake. Any branch of modern medicine, but
especially oncology, provides much food for thought. My encounters with
patients routinely make me think about life and death and what matters. I write
to make sense of my world and to centre myself - I derive much value from this
solitary pursuit that only requires a pen and paper and my thoughts. Writing
helps me to be a better doctor and a more thoughtful human being.
Why is medical communication important? What can be
achieved through good medical and scientific communication?
Communication lies at the heart of all good relationships,
including the doctor-patient relationship. We have all either had a personal
experience or known someone who has seen the most brilliant doctor but come
away disheartened by a lack of communication. Lack of compassion, empathy and
understanding cannot make for a therapeutic encounter, which is why in order to
be a good doctor, one has to be a good communicator. For a long time, people
have considered good communication an optional extra in the making of a doctor
but thankfully, that era is disappearing. Medicine is a foreign language to our
patients and it is our duty to deconstruct it in order to help patients achieve
better health and optimal well-being.
What does this nomination mean to you?
This is one nomination that is completely unexpected and
blew me away! In fact, I elected not to attend the announcements as it was a
school night for my young children. At some point of the evening, I checked my
phone and did a double-take at the messages that were beginning to arrive! But
I still had to phone my editor at The Guardian before I believed the news.
Medicine is a pretty wonderful career by itself but to be a
finalist for an award for journalistic excellence is very humbling. When I set
out to write, I thought if my columns somehow made a difference to a handful of
lives, I would be content. Happily, I have been welcomed and embraced by a
world of readers who send me their stories, forward my writing to friends and
family and use them in medical training. I couldn't ask for more.
I am personally proud and professionally optimistic that
this nomination will democratize medicine and help elevate the doctor-patient
relationship.
Associate
Professor Srivastava says that no career thrives without the solid belief and
support of others.
“I am
fortunate to have good friends and great mentors who have believed in me all
along, well before I was a public figure. My writing and my thoughts have been
shaped by numerous editors, publishers, friends and family and of course,
thousands of patients,” Associate Professor Srivastava says.
“They
may be invisible to the world but I know that without them, I would not have
come so far. I am committed to acknowledging their crucial role in my life and
strive to give back to the community so that I may deserve their ongoing
support.”
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