摘要:

A 14-question survey was mailed to 355 employees examined during a 5-month period in 1989 in a nurse-administered employee cancer screening clinic at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Almost 60% of the study group (209/355) responded to the survey, which was designed to measure employees' attitudes toward the on-site clinic. Overall, respondents viewed the program very positively, and almost all of those still employed by M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the time of the survey said they would return for an examination the next year. Between 52 and 80% of respondents reported increasing the practice of self-examinations for cancer. Of the quarter of the study group who identified themselves as being smokers at the time of the screening examination, 63% said they were no longer smoking. Finally, the analysis showed that having registered nurse participants present during screening did not significantly affect employees' willingness to return for an examination the next year. The survey results indicate that employees view the screening program favorably, that the education they receive affects their behavior, and that almost all have a positive attitude about returning for an examination the next year.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

A staging system was developed to measure the progressive severity of chemotherapy-induced stomatitis. A panel of 15 experts from nursing, dentistry, and medicine were interviewed to elicit the criteria they used to evaluate progressive severity. This process was used to develop an instrument to measure the observable and functional dimensions of stomatitis. After pilot testing, the instrument was refined and evaluated with 53 cancer patients. Patients receiving stomatotoxic chemotherapy, or already exhibiting oral problems secondary to chemotherapy, were tested with three measures: the new Western Consortium for Cancer Nursing Research (WCCNR) Staging System, the Oral Assessment Guide (OAG), and the World Health Organization (WHO) Mucositis Grading System. Results indicated that the three scales were moderately correlated (0.57 to 0.76), indicating they were measuring the same general construct. The mean OAG scores were significantly different by WCCNR stage, and discriminant analysis demonstrated that the staging system did differentiate between the three stages of stomatitis as measured by the other two scales. The WCCNR Staging System is unique in that it reflects expert practice, encouraging clinicians to make a holistic assessment of the mouth's condition rather than summing scores on discrete aspects of the oral condition.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between fatigue and various physical and psychological factors in women undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. The Rhoten Fatigue Scale (RFS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to evaluate levels of fatigue and depression in the patient sample. The sample was composed of 12 adult ovarian cancer patients who were receiving chemotherapy and 12 apparently healthy adult women. The patients' responses to the instruments used in this study indicated no significant relationship between fatigue and age, stage of disease, course of treatment, or depression. Weak-to-moderate relationships were found between levels of fatigue and CA 125 levels. A moderately strong (r = 0.68, p < 0.01) relationship was found between ratings on the RFS and fatigue items on the BDI. A fatigue trajectory was found to peak at day 7 and to slowly decline during the remainder of the 28-day treatment course.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted to determine pain intensity in 30 home hospice patients identified with pain problems. Charts were reviewed, from admission to death, for numerical pain intensity ratings, changes in the route of administration, and/or changes in medication/scheduling. Patients were grouped into three categories according to their pattern of pain as follows: (a) Group I, 20 patients who had a pattern of increasing pain, a significant lowering of the pain intensity means, and frequent changes in pain management; (b) Group II, seven patients who showed little or no increase in pain; and (c) Group III, three patients who showed a decreased intake of pain medication. In contrast to Group I, both Groups II and III demonstrated few route changes, received few pain intensity ratings, and were maintained on oral medications through death. Based upon the nurses' pain intensity ratings and frequent interventions, a t test of admission and final means demonstrated a significant lowering of pain intensity, over time, for 15 patients in Group I who received consistent pain ratings.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Charts of 45 patients, who underwent subtotal pancreatectomy for cancer, at the University Hospital in Lund, over a 5-year period, were reviewed. The aim was to determine how the patients' symptoms and needs were assessed and cared for as documented by medical and nursing professionals. Data were collected on 107 items of interest for nursing care. The symptoms the patients experienced had consequences on many aspects of their lives. Basic functions, such as eating and elimination, were seriously disturbed before surgery, as well as after the first 3 weeks and 3 months. Pain and changes in sleeping pattern and in mood state were recorded for a majority of the patients. Due to inadequate notes the study cannot reveal the total care given to assist these patients with symptom control. However, certain insufficiences could be found. The conclusion is that nurses can take a more active part in caring for patients with pancreatic cancer. By using assessment tools, and in cooperation with the surgeons, nurses can assist the patients with nutritional support, pain management, information and emotional support, as well as with physical training, leading to qualitative improvements in the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an instructional program for nurses educating them to teach breast self-examination (BSE) to hospitalized patients. Nurses' knowledge, attitudes, self-practice, and practice of teaching breast self-examination to patients were measured in a group who attended such a program and compared with those of a control group who did not attend. The researchers found that the instructional program increased nurses' teaching of BSE to their patients, but did not affect their own self-practice. Nurses' attitudes to teaching BSE were less favorable than for self-practice. Issues related to environments for teaching BSE are discussed.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Nursing shares responsibility with the other health professions to contribute to the body of knowledge relevant to the pain experience. Cancer pain is a most serious health care problem. It has a severe physiologic and psychologic impact on cancer patients. Eighty women between the ages of 30 and 80 years who had a confirmed diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer and who were experiencing physical pain were interviewed as to their perceptions of their pain experience. The findings indicated that certain common concerns contributed greatly to the pain experience for these patients. These concerns should be assessed, understood, and acknowledged by nurses when caring for cancer patients who are experiencing physical pain. It was also found that certain responses were commonly used by these patients to cope with pain. Nurses should evaluate the coping responses that cancer patients use to deal with their pain. Cancer patients' coping responses that are beneficial should be supported and utilized by nurses as the basis for therapeutic interventions.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Even though >60% of oncology patients experience pain sometime during the course of their illness, management of this pain still remains an enormous clinical problem. Based on this report, it would appear that pain assessment and management would be a key concern in the care of oncology patients. Yet, from previous research, it is clear that a lack of pain assessment documentation exists, which essentially means legally assessment has not been performed. Because a lack of knowledge about pain could be a major reason for inadequate pain documentation, a continuing education class was designed for oncology nurses regarding pain assessment and the need for subsequent documentation of that assessment. This study evaluated the different groups of nurses: (a) a control group who attended the class, (b) an experimental group who attended the class and received a laminated pain assessment tool, and (c) a group who did not participate in the class; effects on pain assessment documentation. Effectiveness was measured by extracting pain assessment documentation from charts. No significant differences in documentation scores were noted across the three groups. Recommendations and nursing implications concerning continuing education strategies and pain assessment documentation are made.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Pain control for a person with a terminal illness provides the same sorts of challenges for those people who choose to stay at home as those who remain in hospital. The differences lie in the choices that are made for treatment, at times, the response to treatment; and the consequential effects treatment may have on families. This article discusses a case study in which the client's pain was managed in the home within a Hospice Care program that incorporates a visiting domiciliary nursing service. In Australia, such a program has all the advantages of a hospital setting, in that it has access to oncology units and the knowledge therein as well as catering to individual's needs in their own environment.

ISSN:0162-220X    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID