Wearing Your Heart Around Your Neck: Fostering Physician-Patient Relationships Through Sports

Feb 14, 2023

Listen to ASCO’s Journal of Clinical Oncology essay, “Wearing Your Heart Around Your Neck: Fostering Physician-Patient Relationships Through Sports” by Dr. Victoria Wytiaz. The essay is followed by an interview with Wytiaz and host Dr. Lidia Schapira. Wytiaz shares how a shared passion for sports can foster improved physician-patient relationships and empathetic care.

TRANSCRIPT

Narrator: Wearing Your Heart Around Your Neck: Fostering Physician-Patient Relationships Through Sports, by Victoria Wytiaz (10.1200/JCO.22.02529).

As the holiday season approaches, my parents will still ask me to give them a list of potential gift ideas, despite the fact that I am a 32-year-old oncology fellow at the University of Michigan. Last year, that list contained a simple request for a new lanyard … specifically, a black and gold Pittsburgh Steelers lanyard to transition to upon the conclusion of the Pittsburgh Penguins

hockey season and the start of football training camps. All hospital employees must visibly display their ID badges to gain access to the facilities, and as such, a lanyard is essential. For me, it was also essential for my lanyard to serve the additional purposes of representing my passion for my hometown sports teams and sparking joy and conversation with my patients.

Since starting college, becoming a physician was my focused goal. I felt that a career in medicine would provide me with the best opportunity to use my natural scientific curiosity and ability to connect with people to do the most good. I never truly wavered in that career goal; I had seen the dedication and compassion of the oncologists who cared for beloved family members with cancer and felt a connection with their life’s work.

However, if prompted with the cocktail party question, “What would you do if you were not in medicine?,” I would be able to answer without hesitation, “I’d be a sports journalist or sideline reporter.”

As a child growing up in Pittsburgh, sporting events were family outings, background television, and oftentimes, tone-setters for the mood of the city. Early on, I learned the basic rules for the family favorites of baseball, football, and hockey. As I grew older, I sought to understand then nuances of each sport and, in doing so, found a greater depth of appreciation for them. For me, sports represented the ability of individuals to work ceaselessly toward a common goal while facing and overcoming adversity. I found myself drawn to the human side of sports, taking an interest in the origin stories of athletes and trying to grasp the depth of their mental and physical fortitude. To that end, I joined the staff of my college’s daily, student-run newspaper, writing articles and feature stories for the sports section.

On game days, I would wrap up class and head out to the field or court to pick up my press pass, watch the game, attend the press conference, and file my story by midnight. Rather than being fatiguing, I found that my sports journalism pursuits were energizing, and that I was living out two dreams, one in pursuit of a career in medicine and the other as a sports reporter.

Each level of medical training presents its own challenges. Medical school has its share, including late nights in the library studying biochemistry and the anxiety that comes with stepping onto the wards for the first time. My combined internal medicine/pediatric residency seemed at times to comprise an endless string of busy inpatient services and critical care rotations that left little time for any other diversions. The transition to hematology/oncology fellowship brought with it increased responsibility and, for me, new psychological stress. The continuity of oncological care and the ability to guide patients through their cancer journey at a time of utmost vulnerability were the primary factors that drew me to the field, but these

aspects of care also place oncologists on an emotional rollercoaster of extreme highs and lows.

The work can be all-encompassing, and as a trainee with substantial deficits in knowledge and experience, I frequently feel guilt when pursuing passions outside of oncology. I recently experienced this sense of guilt while watching a football game with friends. Around halftime, I started wondering, should I be preparing for next week’s clinic? Am I keeping up with the most recent studies? I also wonder what my patients, both real and imagined, might think if they knew their oncologist was sitting on the couch on Sunday afternoon wearing their lucky jersey. Would this be perceived as laziness, or worse, a lack of dedication to my chosen profession?

As so often happens, patients have been perhaps my greatest teachers in combating that guilt. In wearing my lanyards and inviting conversations that step outside of the world of cancer, I have learned to appreciate that just as I have different passions, so to do my patients,

and there is often overlap which further strengthens the physician-patient bond. Comments on my professional sports allegiance are often the first words spoken to me by many patients and set a comfortable tone, even if our allegiances differ. The next time I see Mrs B and her husband, I suspect that they will have a Detroit Lions lanyard for me so that I can truly be one of them. A big college football win for Ohio State will certainly put Ethan, my 20-year-old patient with sarcoma from Ohio, in a great mood, and we will spend a few minutes discussing the heroes of the game before reviewing his latest scan or mapping out the next treatment plan.

For patients, the drive to discuss something other than their diagnosis or treatment speaks to a deep desire for normalcy at a time and place that is anything but normal. As many patients notice and comment on my lanyard, I have also become more inquisitive about their outside interests which are too often buried or entirely undocumented in their medical chart. While reviewing Mr K’s records before his virtual visit for newly diagnosed testicular cancer, I saw that he drove a Zamboni at a local ice rink, so I began our visit by asking him about the process and if he was a hockey player himself. We traded names of favorite players and our respective

teams’ playoff chances. This brief interaction significantly reduced the awkwardness of a first virtual encounter and helped the rest of the visit flow easily. I sensed he was at ease, and I hope he will continue to feel the same as he continues with his treatment.

I now have a rotating assortment of lanyards to change with the sports calendar, both collegiate and professional. I love walking into a clinic examination room, seeing a patient notice the lanyard and ask if I saw the game on Sunday or agreed with the controversial call or the potential of the latest draft pick. My sports journalism career was brief but rewarding, especially when I had the opportunity to meet and connect with athletes and coaches. In some small way, I still use sports to forge bonds, now with my patients, to learn a bit about their motivations and ambitions. When I have the time, I will watch a game or read an interesting in-depth feature article because it brings me enjoyment, and I hope that my patients also take the time to focus on the things that provide joy in their lives, whether that be sports, art, music, or other pursuits. Both physicians and patients are complete, complex beings capable of harboring multiple interests that when cultivated, enrich our human experience. Recognizing a shared interest or experience with a patient can present an opportunity for an enhanced physician-patient bond, provided that this is guided by the patient’s needs and pursued on their own terms. When the love of sports in an oncology fellow from Pittsburgh happens to mirror that same love in a patient from Michigan, I feel more engaged in my work and even more capable of pursuing my primary passion of providing attentive, empathic oncological care.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Hello and welcome to JCO's Cancer Stories The Art of Oncology, which features essays and personal reflections from authors exploring their experience in the field of oncology. I'm your host, Dr. Lidia Schapira, Associate Editor for Art of Oncology and professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

Today, we're joined by Dr. Victoria Wytiaz, a second-year hematology oncology fellow at the University of Michigan. In this episode, we will be discussing her Art of Oncology article, "Wearing Your Heart Around Your Neck: Fostering Physician-Patient Relationships Through Sports". At the time of this recording, our guest has no disclosures.

Victoria, welcome to our podcast and thank you for joining us.

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: Thank you very much for having me.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: It is our pleasure. I'd like to start by asking you, as an author, to tell us a little bit about your process for writing and your motivation for publishing. In other words, what inspired you to write and what led you to submit this for publication to share with colleagues?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: As with a lot of things for us in medicine, it was prompted by our patients. I work a lot with adolescents and young adults and find that interacting with them brings me a lot of joy. Just going through some of my conversations with patients regarding sports and even sharing them with my colleagues and bringing them joy through that. I wondered if that happens for other providers, and that's really what prompted me to want to share the story. The process of writing - I did a lot of writing as an undergrad and that's a piece of my life that I like to do. And when I can combine that with medicine and oncology, another thing that really brings me joy.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: You talk about wearing your heart around your neck and that speaks of passion and then you actually use the word passion. You have a passion for sports. Help us understand that a little bit. Where did that come from?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I think a lot of it came from how I grew up and my family. Sports brought us together, both as an immediate family and our extended family, whether it was watching games or discussing games, something that we enjoyed doing together. And then it was always an easy way for me to make connections with people at all stages of my life, whether it's in medical training or outside of that. Just an easy, kind of non confrontational way to make connections with people. And then from the passion side of it, I like to see other people have passion for what they're doing. And athletes are incredibly passionate people and you can see that and sense it and you can feed off of that. So it's a natural passion for me to watch them.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Do you play a sport?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I do not. I played volleyball in high school and it was fun, but I'm more of a spectator.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: So as a spectator, the sports that you write about here are team sports. I wonder if you see some sort of a parallel between the coaches and the players in a team and the teams that provide medical care.

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I think that's an excellent point and I really do. And you can see it if you're watching a game and you see the coaches interacting with players. And I think the important thing is it's not always the same. The coach relationship with an individual player is different and our relationship with different members of the medical team is different based on individual personalities and roles. So I think the way that changes based on the setting can be seen in both scenarios. And especially in the oncology world, relying on our team members is so critical and everybody has a different role and feeds off of each other in a different way. I agree. That's an excellent parallel.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: We use a lot of sports metaphors anyway when we talk to patients with cancer. Tell us a little bit about how you introduce that language in your visits with patients, and if you worry, as I do sometimes, about winning and losing as ways of perhaps presenting the results or outcomes of cancer treatments to patients.

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: We certainly do. Sports metaphors are certainly abundant. I don't love the winning and losing either. It really sets up this dichotomy of failure and success. And you're right, sports is so much wrapped up in the winning and the losing. I think really good athletes and really excellent coaches can take things away from a win or a loss and kind of phrase things differently. And I hope I do that with patients to prevent that sense of failure, both on their part and on our part, too.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: How would you describe the magic that sport seems to hold for you?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: That's a great question. I think that's quite crazy. You think you've seen everything and then you watch a game, you watch something on television, you see it live, which is even better, and you walk away, and it’s like “I can't believe that happened. I really can't believe that happened. I've never seen that before.” Even with my parents or my grandparents, they've watched for 70, 80 years something they've never seen before happen. It really does hold that, like you said, magic, that you don't know what the outcome will be and you don't know how you'll feel based on what occurs. It really is that sense of unknown that kind of brings you back.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: And it's the beauty of the way that these super athletes also play their sports. I can just think back just a few weeks ago to the final of the football World Cup. I'm Argentinian so o that was a big moment. But even if you're not attached to the team, that was an amazing moment to watch.

Tell us a little bit about this habit of yours of displaying lanyards that identify a particular team as a way of introducing yourself to a patient, because definitely their eyes are going to be drawn to your badge and the lanyard next to it. So tell us a little bit about that, and that's the way you actually introduce your story.

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: When I was in medical school in Philadelphia, I noticed that a lot of providers would wear a lanyard that identified their undergraduate training. And I thought that was a really cool way to kind of know where people are coming from. We were all coming from different places. Giving like, a little sense of your hometown. It's one of the most common questions we ask our colleagues and trainers, where are you from? This was an easy way to do it. And then when I moved to Michigan, I found that there's a lot of interaction between Pittsburgh, where I'm from, and other places in the Midwest. There's a lot of back and forth. And once I started to wear my Steelers lanyard, my football team lanyard, I got a lot of comments on it. Mostly positive. I figured the seasons change in many different ways and sports seasons change too, so I'll keep a running series of lanyards  that change with the sports seasons. I noticed other people doing it and I thought it was a good way to just give a nonverbal sense of who I am and a part of me.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Have you had any situations where patients just don't get it?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I am lucky to be in a very sports-friendly city in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in the Detroit area. I've never had anyone not get it. I've certainly had an interaction with patients where family members are in the room and we'll talk a little bit of sports and a significant other, another family member does a bit of an eye roll, “There they go again. This is going to be another five to ten minutes talking about the game.” But no, I think people appreciate something outside of that encounter that represents us, because I want to know what represents them outside of what they're seeing us in the cancer center for.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Yeah, I interpreted it when I read it as a way of humanizing yourself as well. And if I could have a lanyard that displays books, I would definitely do that. And I've often come into a room and just talk to the patient about what they're reading, what I'm reading, and try to create rapport that way.

Tell us a little bit about the emotional side of this. I was surprised to read in your essay that you actually felt guilt on a Sunday afternoon when you were watching a football match or baseball game. And I wonder where that comes from.

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I think a lot of us carry guilt when we're maybe not engaging as much as we think we should and working towards patient care. And I think for me, it's perhaps where I am in training. I think as you're going through training, it didn't have any gaps. You go from undergrad to medical school to residency and fellowship, and it's always, “What do I do to get to the next step?“ It’s hard to take breaks and you just keep going. But as I was watching this particular game, it was a Sunday, I think it kind of middle of the season football game. This is a four-hour game. Is four hours better spent elsewhere for clinic next week. Are there things I should be preparing for? And I think for me, it comes from that sense of the process of training and how arduous it can be and not always used to taking breaks through that. So sometimes it can feel a little odd.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Well, I'm sure your well-being coaches will tell you that it's very important for you to take that time away from work and to refuel or replenish your tank.

I found the essay just lovely, very easy to read, and I can identify with your passion and the growth, even as a physician, and using this passion that's out of medicine as a way of building rapport with patients. Can you talk a little bit about how you see that going forward?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: The way I see it going forward is that I hope, as I have patients, that I have more continuity with that that becomes even easier. And what I hope it fosters is patients bringing up their interests to me on their own. I wear my lanyard, and that's a very visible thing. So it's a very easy conversation starter to kind of speak on a humanistic level between just two people. And then I hope that over time, patients become comfortable doing that as well on their interests. First, I hope that that stays with me as I kind of progress through my career. I hope the patients feel similarly.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: What lanyard will be on your list of possible gifts for next Christmas?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I have every Pittsburgh team represented. I don't have my undergrad lanyard, which is also the University of Pittsburgh. That would be a good one to have from a sports perspective. From my academic career perspective, that would be the next one. I could go very off the board with, like a niche sport, but I would be nervous if a patient had a really strong passion in that and asked me questions. So I'll stick with the ones that I feel comfortable talking about.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: And my final question is this: what is the message you want readers to take from your essay?

Dr. Victoria Wytiaz: I want readers and providers to take from it that it's okay for us to have passions outside of our work as physicians. That is certainly a passion for all of us, but it is okay to have those other passions and more often than not, something that we are passionate about or enjoy, our patients will also share in that enjoyment. I hope that they use that as a way to connect with patients on just a basic human level, which I think is so important.

Dr. Lidia Schapira: Well, Victoria, thank you so much for your essay and for creating rapport and connection through a love of sports to the readers of Art of Oncology.

Until next time. Thank you for listening to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. Don't forget to give us a rating or review wherever you listen. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology is just one of ASCO's many podcasts. You can find all of the shows at podcasts.ASCO.org.

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Guest Bio: Dr. Victoria Wytiaz is a second-year hematology oncology fellow at the University of Michigan.