Part 4: How carers can help in consultations

There are a number of ways that carers can help you to prepare for upcoming medical consultations.

Carers can read information about your illness:

• You and your carer may find it helpful to read about your illness and familiarise yourselves with medical terms. If searching for information on the internet, try to focus on information from government or reputable not-for-profit websites, such as:
  • Cancer Australia (Australian Government) https://canceraustralia.gov.au/affected-cancer
  • Cancer Council Australia https://www.cancer.org.au/

You and your carer can listen as well:

• You might prefer to listen to a podcast about living with cancer. The Cancer Council NSW has a series of podcasts which provide insights from health professionals about many aspects of cancer care, and being a carer. Visit: https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/podcasts/

Carers can help organise medical records:

• You and your carer can help maintain a record of your medications, treatments, test results, symptoms and side effects, and bring this to consultations.
• There can be a lot of information to hold onto, so keeping everything in one place can be really helpful.
• You could keep this information in a physical file, a spreadsheet or electronic application such as CancerAid https://canceraid.com/the-app/