First, Learn About Breast Cancer Basics
As a patient, you must learn the essentials about breast cancer and cancer care. On this website, you will learn as much or as little as you desire. Begin with reviewing our “Breast Cancer Basics” video course (here). These video lessons guide you through the key information you need to know in order to make good treatment decisions. Take our specific lessons on:
- “What is Breast Cancer?”
- “Will I Survive Breast Cancer?”
- “My Tumor Receptors”
- “HER2-Positive” and “Triple Negative” cancer
- “Breast Cancer Recurrence?”
At the Breast Cancer School for Patients, we feel it is our duty as breast cancer specialists to teach you how to ask for the best quality care. We are convinced that a well-informed patient who asks targeted questions will get better care. Get informed before speaking with your doctors.
Prepare for your Surgery, Oncology & Radiation Consultations
Learn everything about your unique breast cancer:
It is essential to be well-prepared for every meeting with your breast cancer specialists. For each medical consultation you have, review our “Course Overview” video on the top of each page to learn what you can address with your surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. You can then prepare by reviewing other lessons on various key topics.
Watch the lessons in the order they are presented. Use the questions found in each lesson to engage your breast cancer specialists for the topics important to you. Go deeper into detail with our “Patient-Friendly” links and even further with our “More Detailed” links.
Your Breast Surgery Course:
Your breast surgeon is the first person to teach you about your unique breast cancer. You will learn about the threat to your life and the treatment options ahead. Review our “Breast Surgery Video Course” (here) before and after your breast surgeon consultation. This way, you will be better prepared to engage, then re-engage your surgeon on follow up visits about important issues.
Your Medical Oncology Course:
A medical oncologist will add to the knowledge you have already gained from your breast surgeon and online research. Take our quick “Medical Oncology Video Course” (here). Watch each “lesson” in the order they are presented. Learn about hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, genomic tests and much more. When you understand the basics, you will remember the details about what is discussed and make better treatment decisions for yourself.
Your Radiation Oncology Course:
You may ultimately consult with a radiation oncologist, usually soon after surgery or possibly after surgery and chemotherapy are completed. Our “Radiation Oncology Video Course” (here) outlines the details of breast cancer radiation therapy. Many of the recent cutting-edge treatments in breast cancer care are advancements in breast radiation. We educate you about these new approaches.
Use Our Doctor Questions to Engage Your Specialists
Each lesson lists key questions about important breast cancer tests and treatments. We suggest you print out these questions and the attached lesson notes. Use these as a reference when you are talking to your breast specialists about a particular topic. This way you can speak with physicians using their language.
Sign-up for our “Breast Health Updates & Latest Videos“ (here). Once registered, we’ll immediately email you our complete list of “Cutting Edge” questions to engage your breast surgeon, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist.
Search for Video Lessons on any Topic
To locate topics quickly, use the search feature found at the top right of the menu banner of the website. This approach allows you to find any subject covered by the Breast Cancer School for Patients. We are the only breast cancer education website that prioritizes using video to teach you about breast cancer. We encourage other societies and institutions to embrace this approach to advance healthcare education.
Review our Cutting-Edge Advances Course
When you don’t know what you are missing, you may miss out on the possible benefits of new advances and treatment options. This is why we combined the most important Cutting-Edge Lessons into our “Cutting Edge Advances Video Course“ (here).
Review the Cutting-Edge Advances overview video. Then watch the related lessons on key topics found on the same page. Advanced, cutting-edge tests and treatments are often overlooked when treating complex problems such as breast cancer. We teach you to become your own best advocate.
How to find good breast cancer information online?
We have organized the key topics in breast cancer for you to learn. These topics are presented in the order you will likely encounter them. Because of this, we recommend using the Breast Cancer School for Patients as your “Table of Contents” if you search the internet for more information. Search well-established websites. The best information is provided by medical societies and non-profit organizations. We provide links to the best evidence-based sites on every breast cancer topic. We suggest searching all the topics that are pertinent to you, rather than spending hours on the details of one aspect of your care. This way you will have a better understanding of your entire breast cancer situation.
Patient-Friendly References:
Their page (here) “Using the Internet to find Health Information” is a good overview. The Susan G. Komen organization is a leading advocacy group dedicated to assisting patients, funding research, and ensuring quality breast cancer care.
This article (here) “Cancer Information on the Internet” covers some of the general opportunities and cautions when learning about cancer on the internet. The American Cancer Society is an organization that supports patients with cancer and funds research for cancer of all types.
