Deciding Whether to Communicate a Cancer Diagnosis at Work

With rising cancer rates, a faculty or staff member may face a personal cancer diagnosis. As the news may be unexpected, faculty and staff members with cancer have several decisions to make, including whether or not to tell colleagues or students and how to deliver the news. Guidance for these types of decisions and conversations is rarely discussed in the pharmacy literature; however, it is an important topic to consider as a cancer diagnosis can have a significant impact on the faculty or staff member, the work environment, and the college or school of pharmacy overall. It is important to raise awareness of the issues facing faculty or staff members with a cancer diagnosis in order to help support them.