Background Psychosocial distress interferes with the ability to cope effectively with cancer, its physical symptoms and treatment. This in turn leads to poor outcomes in patients. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the level of psychosocial distress, emotional distress and the quality of life of cancer patients in two health facilities in Cameroon. Methods This study used a cross-sectional hospital-based design. The study was carried out over a period of three months from July–September 2020. The sample size was 120 cancer patients. A consecutive sampling technique was used to select participants. Three validated questionnaires were used: DT, HADS and EORTC QLQ-C30 to assess, psychosocial distress, emotional distress and quality of life respectively. Results were presented using descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics (Chi square, Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA). Data were analysed with SPSS version 21. All statistics were considered significant at an alpha value set at 0.05 level. Results The majority of patients 83 (69.2%) presented with clinically significant distress, with financial difficulties 87 (72.5%), fatigue 83 (69.2%), transportation 73 (60.8%) and difficulties with work/school 69(57.5%) being the most reported problems. Fifty nine (50.0%) and 56(47.5%) had moderate to severe anxiety and depression symptoms respectively. Overall on HADS, 67 patients (56.8%) presented with emotional distress. The quality of life was fair, with a mean of 52.4 ± 21.3.There was a statistically significant negative relationship (P < 0.0001), between psychosocial distress and quality of life of patients. Conclusion Cancer patients suffer from psychosocial distress, which has a negative relationship on their quality of life. It is important that healthcare professionals working in these settings, assess psychosocial distress early in patients with cancer to improve the quality of care and enhance quality of life.

Background: Psychosocial distress interferes with the ability to cope effectively with cancer, its physical symptoms and treatment. This in turn leads to poor outcomes in patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of psychosocial distress on the quality of life of cancer patients in two health facilities in Cameroon. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional hospital-based design. The study was carried out over a period of three months from July-September 2020. The sample size was 120 cancer patients. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants. Three validated questionnaires were used: DT, HADS and EORTC QLQ-C30 to assess, psychosocial distress, emotional distress and quality of life respectively. Results were presented using descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics (Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA). Data were analysed with SPSS version 21. All statistics were considered significant at an alpha value set at 0.05 level. Results: Majority of the patients 83 (69.2%) presented with clinically significant distress, with financial difficulties 87 (72.5%), fatigue 83 (69.2%), transportation 73 (60.8%) and difficulties with work/school 69(57.5%) being the most reported problems. Fifty nine (50.0%) and 56(47.5%) had moderate to severe anxiety and depression symptoms respectively. Overall on HADS, 67 patients (56.8%) presented with emotional distress. The quality of life was fair, with a mean of 52.4±21.3. There was a strong statistically significant relationship between psychosocial distress and the quality of life (P<0.0001), wherein psychosocial distress was found to have a negative impact on the quality of life of patients.Conclusion: Cancer patients do suffer from psychosocial distress which has a negative impact on their quality of life. This is thus a call for concern to health personnel in this setting. The psychosocial domain of cancer patients needs to be assessed for early identification of persons at risk, to better improve the quality of care which they receive and hence their quality of life.

Objective This was a 5 year retrospective study of patients’ hospital records to find out how patients with cellulitis are managed and the care provided by nurses to these patients in some hospitals in Fako, Cameroon. Results Of the 236 cases of cellulitis identified from a study of hospital records, 202 were included in the study. Most of the participants (55%) were female and the mean (SD) age was 43 (1.1) years. Cellulitis accounted for 2.3% of admissions in this study. The predisposing factors identified were; the presence of trauma (60.5%), HIV infection (18.6%), alcohol consumption (8.4%) and tobacco use (4.8%). Commonly recorded complications were necrosis (32.2%), sepsis (23%), abscess formation (19.5%), and ulcer development (19.5%). Medical management was with antibiotic therapy, including mostly penicillin (26.5%), aminoglycoside (22.1%), nitroimidazole (20.2%) and cephalosporin (19.6%). Debridement (46.7%), and incision and drainage (44.4%) were the most implemented surgical interventions. Nursing care, as found in patients’ hospital records were predominantly on medication administration (98.0%), vital signs assessment (90.5%) and patient assessment (53%). Cellulitis therefore was found among a substantial number of patients and management was predominantly with combination antibiotics therapy and inadequate nursing care. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4497-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.