Oncology Nurses' Recognition of Supportive Care Needs and Symptoms of their Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Abstract

Objective: To assess the accuracy of oncology nurses' recognition of supportive care needs and symptoms of their patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: The participants comprised randomly selected cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy in an ambulatory setting and 17 oncology nurses working in two chemotherapy units in Japan. For assessment of the patients' supportive care needs and symptoms, the patients were asked to respond to a validated self-administered questionnaire. The oncology nurses completed a survey in which they indicated their perception of the level of the same set of needs or symptoms. The two data sets obtained from the patients and nurses were compared statistically to assess the accuracy of the oncology nurses' recognition of their patients' needs and symptoms. Results: Complete data sets were available for 439 patients. The most common primary cancers were breast cancer (36.0%), followed by colorectal (24.4%) and lung (12.3%) cancers. Nurses' awareness of their patients' supportive care needs and physical and psychological symptoms were less than optimal in routine care. In particular, psychological symptoms and support needs for these symptoms were markedly under-recognized. Physical symptoms associated with chemotherapy, such as hair loss, appetite loss and fatigue, were better recognized than symptoms not specific to chemotherapy, such as constipation, insomnia, dyspnea and pain. Conclusions: Oncology nurses' recognition may not accurately reflect their patients' supportive care needs and symptoms in routine practice. In clinical practice, it may be beneficial to conduct routine screening of patients' perceived needs and symptoms comprehensively using self-administered questionnaires.

Un-met Supportive Care Needs of Iranian Breast Cancer Patients

“…The women in this study had high unmet supportive care needs, with unmet needs greatest in the health system and information, and physical and daily living domains. This is similar to Asian studies conducted in Taiwan (Liao et al, 2012), Japan (Nakaguchi et al, 2013) and Hong Kong Li et al, 2013) wherein breast cancer patients reported high rates of unmet supportive care needs, particularly in the informational domain. This contrasts with research conducted in Western countries, including Switzerland (Schmid-Büchi et al, 2012), Australia (Hodgkinson et al, 2007;McDowell et al, 2010), Germany (Lam et al, 2011), England (Armes et al, 2009;Harrison et al, 2011) and Canada (Whelan et al, 1997), wherein breast cancer patients have moderate levels of supportive care needs and unmet needs were highest in the psychological domain.…”

“…Investigations of supportive care needs among South East Asian breast cancer patients suggests that a large percentage have unmet needs Liao et al, 2012;Au et al, 2013;Li et al, 2013;Nakaguchi et al, 2013). Previous Iranian researchers have documented high rates of disrupted psychological functioning among breast cancer patients (Montazeri et al, 2002;Tavoli et al, 2008), and a lack of disease and treatment related information or education (Montazeri et al, 2002), but evidence of unmet supportive care needs is lacking.…”

Depression in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in a tertiary care hospital: a cross-sectional study

“…[19][20][21] Depression in cancer patients can interfere with treatment and recovery and may subsequently increase their morbidity and mortality. 22 In the present study, the proportion of depression was found to be quite high (73.69%) as compared to most of the other studies conducted by Bhattacharyya 6,16,23,24 However, similar findings were reported by Jadoon et al who found the prevalence of depression to be 66%. 25 In the present study significantly higher proportion of depression can be attributed to greater number of female study subjects who are usually willing to express depression and tend to apply emotional approach for coping.…”

Investigation of the relationship among fatigue, self-efficacy and quality of life during chemotherapy in patients with breast, lung or gastrointestinal cancer

“…Social support and a better functional status encourage patients with cancer to engage in more self-care behaviours for the management of fatigue (Lou et al, 2013). A study involving patients with breast, colorectal and lung cancer found that assessments of psychological symptoms and social support were considerably neglected by nurses (Nakaguchi et al, 2013). A multicentre study reported that less social support and high levels of symptom distress during chemotherapy were associated with worse QoL in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy (So et al, 2009).…”