When you are facing a diagnosis of cancer, maintaining quality of life is as important as choosing the most effective treatment path. Becoming empowered as an active partner in your care — moving beyond merely a recipient of medical treatment — is critical to ensure the best outcomes possible, particularly in diseases as complicated as cancers of the blood and bone marrow.

In order to achieve these goals, patients and their loved ones should be engaged in their own care, in full partnership with their medical team, and become educated about all aspects of their disease. Patient empowerment has many benefits, including restoring some semblance of influence on a situation that, by nature, removes your sense of self control. Participating in care decisions restores confidence, control and hope. It also reduces medical errors because the patient better understands the disease and is more proactive in communicating concerns and desires to the medical team.

For the nearly 150,000 people diagnosed with cancers of the blood and bone marrow (myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma), this sense of empowerment is especially important because the disease is complex and can be overwhelming.

While medical treatments for cancers of the blood and bone marrow have improved dramatically in the past two decades, the diseases are complex, and success—or failure—of treatment is impacted by many factors. Both the patient and the medical team need to be equally committed to the treatment journey.

We can do better for these patients by changing the health care delivery system from a physician-driven process to a patient-driven, patient-centered care model that empowers individuals to have a voice in decisions that impact their health during and after treatment.

It starts with forging a true partnership — one where the patient is heard and his or her concerns/desires are taken into full consideration then meaningfully addressed.

Our patient-centered model of care relies on engaging the patient and his or her loved ones in every important aspect of their treatment, including discussing the variety of medical therapies suitable for the patient and whether care is provided in a hospital or an outpatient facility.

Physicians, nurses, social workers, cancer educators, insurance care managers and other specialists work together with the patient to create a care plan that is customized to the individual’s unique needs — medial, spiritual, social — and addresses their personal goals and values. That same team continues to manage care in full partnership with the patient throughout the journey.

We’ve seen this have a positive impact on patient outcomes in our own patient population.

I strongly encourage anyone facing a cancer diagnosis to become empowered and knowledgeable about their condition and get engaged in their medical treatment journey. Ask questions. Find a team committed to delivering a personalized treatment approach that considers all options, including clinical trials. Insist on real, two-way communication between you and your medical team and choose to be an active participant in the management of your own health.

Elias Anaissie, MD, is director of the UC Cancer Institute Hematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplantation Program and John and Gladys Strauss Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and professor of hematology oncology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Anaissie sees patients through UC Health. For appointments, call 513-584-5342 or visit uccancer.com/blood for more information.