A good patient-doctor relationship and positive communication strongly influence patient quality of life and clinical outcomes. Demonstrating the importance of communication in the patient-doctor relationship are three patient authors who have 48 years of combined real-world experience with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the USA. Using their own personal experiences, these patient authors and a healthcare professional provide suggestions related to improving patient-doctor relationships and communication at each stage of the journey from diagnosis to learning to live with CML. The authors believe these recommendations are applicable to patients with CML and with other diseases, their caregivers and healthcare professionals.
Keywords: chronic myeloid leukemia; informed patient; patient experience; patient–doctor relationship; podcast; shared decision-making; treatment decisions.