{"id":472291,"date":"2026-05-29T02:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T02:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/472291\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T02:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T02:05:08","slug":"working-life-while-effective-treatment-is-crucial-empathy-is-equally-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/472291\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Life: While effective treatment is crucial, empathy is equally important"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI have always been fascinated by <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/lifestyle\/healthandwellbeing\/arid-41456938.html\">cancer<\/a> because of its gravity and the ongoing need to improve treatments and outcomes. It\u2019s an area that never stands still, and there\u2019s always more to learn. I had a fear of being bored, so the constant evolution of treatments appealed to me. I wanted a field that would challenge me over a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn a human level, cancer touches almost every family. While effective treatment is crucial, empathy is equally important. Patients always remember who showed them compassion, even if they can\u2019t recall every detail of their treatment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHistorically, radiotherapy got bad press for significant long-term side effects. During my training at St Luke\u2019s Hospital in Dublin, patients often had to remain in the hospital for weeks on end. These days, you can drop in for a session and return to normal routines afterwards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Radiotherapy is also far more precise now. There\u2019s less collateral damage to surrounding tissue and treatment schedules have shortened dramatically.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIn the past, some cancers required daily sessions over eight weeks. Now, treatment can be completed in five days. That\u2019s one of the most striking changes I\u2019ve witnessed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe once-standard digital rectal exam is playing a much smaller role in prostate cancer diagnosis nowadays as clinicians rely more on MRI scans and PSA testing \u2014 a blood test used to measure a protein produced by the prostate gland. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5097450_4_articleinlinemobile_DSC02208.jpeg\" alt=\"Dr Paul Kelly in the radiotherapy treatment room at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney\" title=\"Dr Paul Kelly in the radiotherapy treatment room at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Dr Paul Kelly in the radiotherapy treatment room at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cBiopsy techniques have also changed. Procedures are now performed under anaesthetic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe\u2019ve just started recruiting for INSPIRE, a major new all-island radiotherapy trial for men with localised prostate cancer, which patients who had come through treatment helped design. It aims to minimise urinary, bowel, and sexual side-effects and will use advanced scanning and highly targeted radiotherapy to better protect nearby healthy tissue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cTreatment will be over five sessions instead of the standard 20. It\u2019s sponsored by Cancer Trials Ireland and supported by the Irish Research Radiation Oncology Group, and the plan is to recruit more than 136 patients across Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI am a member of Cork Triathlon Club and run with St Finbarr\u2019s AC. I completed the Boston Marathon last year in 2 hours 57 minutes, my best and only sporting achievement. I also volunteer as run director at Ballincollig parkrun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI have always been fascinated by cancer because of its gravity and the ongoing need to improve treatments&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[26054,24255,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-472291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health-life","tag-working-life","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}