Nurses Collaborate Across Oncology Departments to Address Fractured Care

A team of oncology nurses at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center in California recognized that patient care was hindered by inconsistent communication between departments and weak collaboration among providers. To address this problem, they conducted an analysis of patient feedback and then initiated regular meetings to improve patients' oncology care experiences through a collaborative approach, Oncology Nurse Advisor reports.

In a poster presentation from Torrance’s Miriam Sleven at the National Coalition of Oncology Nurse Navigators Conference in Atlanta, she outlined how the team addressed the fragmented care that was occurring across settings at their facility.

Nurses representing clinical, administrative, inpatient oncology, outpatient infusion, palliative care, and radiation oncology departments, as well as the Breast Diagnostic Center, and the Cancer Resource Center, met monthly and discussed projects they were working on to improve cancer services from the planning to the evaluation stage. During the meetings, the nurses identified issues and projects that spanned the scope of oncology nursing practice and the patient experience.

The meetings were successful, leading to improved communication between all oncology nurses, and improved patient experience, reports Oncology Nurse Advisor.

Nurse-Led Interventions Reduced Shortness of Breath, Fatigue in Lung Cancer Patients

A nurse-led symptom management program conducted in Canada showed improvements for patients with lung cancer in the areas of dyspnea, or shortness of breath, and fatigue. Nurses provided patients with information and support, according to a study presented at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 39th Annual Congress.

Researchers at the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, conducted the study in partnership with the Dyspnea Management Clinic. Oncology nurses used the results of an assessment of patients’ understanding of their symptoms to develop a protocol for patients with underlying lung cancer, Oncology Nurse Advisor reports. The protocol included:

• Assessment of breathlessness,
• Understanding the meaning of symptoms,
• Recognition of problems that require medical intervention,
• Offering breathing retraining,
• Use of relaxation technique, and
• Goal setting.

Each of the 43 patients participating received a one-hour consultation combined with follow-up visits. Their understanding of symptoms was measured by advanced nurse practitioners. The nurses could then implement a comprehensive approach to address dyspnea symptoms. Scores for dyspnea and tiredness were significantly improved in all patients when compared to a previous control group of 40 patients. The results demonstrate that oncology nurse-led interventions are effective methods for improving symptom management in patients with lung cancer, according to the researchers.

The role of nurses in providing care to cancer patients was explored by an INQRI team at the University of Utah. Led by Susan Beck, this interdisciplinary team designed a robust measure to assess adult patients’ opinions about how nurses manage cancer-related pain. Beck and her team developed an instrument using qualitative and quantitative data to elicit patients’ opinions about how their nurses and other members of their care team managed their pain and, ultimately, to help patients select hospitals based on this dimension of their care experience.

Evidence-Based Practice, Nurse-led Research Key to Patient Outcomes

In a two-part series, Nurse.com provides first-hand feedback from nurses presenting posters at the Oncology Nursing Society national conference, who share guidance for other nurses interested in research practice.

One of the researchers quoted, Nalo Hamilton, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar, advises nurses to recognize the contributions they can make to research practice and to realize that all research, whether small or large, makes a difference in nursing knowledge and patient care.

“As nurses, we can examine how we can improve our nursing interventions and showcase what we do in our research,” Hamilton tells Nurse.com. “For example, we are great at health care prevention and can demonstrate through our research how, for example, patient education improves medication compliance and patient outcomes.”

All of the nurses interviewed noted that evidence-based practice projects and research in oncology nursing help nurses determine their role in improving patient care and outcomes.

Part I is available here. 
Part II is available here.  

INQRI Research on Pain Management for Oncology Patients

INQRI grantee Susan Beck and her colleagues recently had an article published in Health Services Research regarding their PainCQ tool.  The objective of this study was to examine the reliability and validity and to decrease the battery of items in the Pain Care Quality (PainCQ©) Surveys. Cumulative evidence supports the reliability and validity of the companion surveys in hospitalized patients with pain in the oncology setting. The tools may be relevant in both clinical research and quality improvement. Future research is recommended in other populations, settings, and with more diverse groups.

Click here for more information.

INQRI Grantee Named the Oncology Nursing Society's 2012 Distinguished Researcher

Congratulations to INQRI grantee Susan Beck, who was recently announced as the 2012 Distinguished Researcher from the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS).

Dr. Beck will receive the award which recognizes her work on the management of pain symptoms in cancer patients and interventions to improve the quality and outcomes of care at the ONS conference this November.

Click here to learn more about this accomplishment!

Nurses Can Ease Challenges of Distance Caregiving

Being able to emotionally support a family member undergoing cancer treatment is no easy task, especially when a loved one is hundreds or thousands of miles away from the caregiver. The number of caregivers providing instrumental and emotional support to an ill loved one who is geographically distant is expected to reach approximately 14 million by 2012. Delicia Honen Yard, of oncologynurseadvisor.com, has reported about a study of the new and complex phenomenon of distance caregiving in the advanced cancer population. The research revealed the stressors that burden distance caregivers, and suggested ways in which nurses might be able to help these persons.

Click here to read the article.

Nurses and Cancer Treatment

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report on improving the quality of oncology care through patient-centered treatment planning. Marie Bakitas, APRN, DNSc, AOCN, FAAN, associate professor of anesthesiology at Dartmouth Medical School, noted that a systematic review of 46 studies found that nurses are prominent information providers for cancer patients, especially after the initiation of treatment.

Click here to learn more about the report.

Indicative of the role nurses serve in providing care to cancer patients is the work conducted by an INQRI team at the University of Utah.  Led by Susan Beck, this interdisciplinary team has designed a robust measure to assess adult patients’ opinions about how nurses manage cancer-related pain.  Although nurses are the frontline providers of pain management in hospitals, pain goes unrelieved which affects patient outcomes, length of stay and costs a great deal. Beck and her team developed an instrument using qualitative and quantitative data to elicit patients’ opinions about how their nurses and other members of their care team managed their pain and, ultimately, to help patients select hospitals based on this dimension of their care experience. For example, the surveys asked patients whether nurses believed them when they said they were in pain and evaluated whether the team involved patients in decisions about their pain management. The Pain-CQ survey tools will let patients rate their experiences and help hospital administrators and policymakers who want to improve the care provided by nurses and other health team members. The initial tool was developed with the help of cancer patients. The tool is now being tested at a Veterans Administration hospital with patients who have a number of different diagnoses. The research may eventually spark the creation of a nurse-performance measure related to pain management.