Nursing Process: Diagnosis and Staging of Cancer

Benchmark – Nursing Process: Approach to Care
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Benchmark – Nursing Process: Approach to Care
Introduction
Cancer is characterized by the abnormal growth of cells within the body that spreads to other body parts. Cancer affects almost any body part, but it is essentially an illness of the cells. Cancer staging is a critical facet of cancer-related research and management. A tumor’s anatomical nature and disease severity enable medical professionals to identify a patient’s cancer stages and the necessary treatment intervention to eliminate the condition. A nursing care process is typically employed to evaluate the suspected patient’s medical status and design feasible care programs. In that vein, the nursing process plays a critical role in cancer management. It facilitates identifying the cancer type and its stage, thus helping healthcare professionals, including nurses, develop appropriate care plans. This report delineates various cancer aspects, the cancer nursing process, the role of the American Cancer Society in offering education and support, including how science and liberal arts research could be included in the nursing knowledge.
Diagnosing and Staging of Cancer
Cancers are diagnosed via laboratory tests, biopsies, and imaging. Laboratory tests involve evaluating certain substances levels within the body to rule out any potential for abnormalities. Laboratory tests include cytogenetic analysis to examine the chromosomes’ structure and number, complete blood count (CBC) to assess the size and number of different kinds of blood cells as well as hemoglobin levels, and immunophenotyping to assess the types of antigens within the cell surfaces. Imaging tests employed to diagnose cancer include MRI, X-rays, PET scans, CT scans, and nuclear scan ultrasound. Imaging cancer diagnosis techniques depend on internal organs images captured at different angles to determine internal body parts structure abnormalities. Biopsies utilize tissue samples from the part suspected of having cancerous tumors to assess cancerous cells’ potential (National Cancer Institute, 2021). In that way, cancer diagnosis procedures are crucial in determining cancer and ruling out other illnesses.
Cancer staging describes cancerous cells’ extent, suggest the appropriate medical interventions to treat the condition centered on the spread as well as size of the cancerous cells, and enables nurses to determine the individual’s prognosis. Staging constitutes an important facet of cancer assessment as well as solid tumors’ management. For nearly all cancer types, the staging model uses the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) paradigm, where T delineates the primary tumor extent, N reflects the extent and presence of regional nodal metastases, and M describes distant metastatic cancer. The TNM facets are integrated to assign phases between I and IV, where IV reflects the most adverse stage. Most types of cancers are categorized regarding the techniques recommended by the American Joint Committee on Cancer within the staging guide (Liu & Ridge, 2018).
Cancer Complications, Treatment Side Effects, and Techniques to Reduce Psychological and Physical Effects
The are various cancer complications, including hypercalcemia, venous thromboembolism, and bone metastasis pain. Bone metastasis describes a cancer complication that spreads from other body sites, and bone constitutes one of the typical locations of distant metastases. It leads to significant morbidity as well as reduced life quality, with pain being the most characteristic manifestation. Malignancy hypercalcemia is a common complication within advanced state cancers that affects more than 40 percent of patients. Calcium levels need tight regulation, as well as slight variations from average, could cause substantial morbidity. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a cancer-related complication that is the second leading death cause among cancer patients, and they include a four-to-seven-fold rise in the risk of developing the difficulty than those without cancer (Ingledew & Janz, 2019). Therefore, hypercalcemia, venous thromboembolism, and bone metastasis constitute the three main cancer-related complications.
Cancer treatments’ most common side effects include fatigue, pain, and emotional distress (Smith et al., 2019). Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common manifestation experience within cancer patients. It is a distressing, persistent, subjective tiredness or exhaustion associated with cancer treatment or cancer that is not proportional to recent activity and interferes with normal functioning (Fabi et al., 2020). Pain is also a common cancer-related manifestation. Pain could be caused by cancer treatment, cancer itself, or a combination of other factors. Surgery, radiation therapy, intravenous chemotherapy, targeted therapy, tumors, supportive care therapies including bisphosphonates, as well as diagnostic procedures could also cause pain (National Cancer Institute, 2021). Cancer diagnoses and treatment are linked to psychological distress, resulting in significant physical and emotional well-being deterioration and quality of life (Peters et al., 2020). Therefore, emotional distress early detection is essential the deteriorated patient outcomes.
The management of psychosocial and physical impairments and symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment constitutes an essential facet of cancer care, impacting the treatment delivery and completion as well as life quality. Cancer rehabilitation is a method to improve functioning, pain, and overall life quality throughout the treatment process. Psychosocial care is also an appropriate method to improve cancer patients’ capacity to cope with cancer since some have preexisting psychiatric conditions while others develop psychological problems after diagnosis. Palliative care constitutes an approach to reduce cancer manifestations and their management, including pain, other physical signs, and emotional distress, with a particular focus on utilizing patient and family communication to identify care goals (American Cancer Society, 2019).
Cancer Incidence and Mortality Risk Factors
The main risk elements for the annual incidence and death rates of various cancers in America include lack of physical activity, obesity and overweight, poor diet, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption. Tobacco is the most significant avoidable risk element for cancer deaths and kills over 8 million individuals globally due to cancer and other illness. Obesity and overweight are associated with cancer, including colorectal, kidney, esophagus, breast, and endometrial. Regular physical activity, sustaining a healthy body weight, and healthy nutrition can reduce cancer risk. Alcohol usage is a risk factor for various cancer types such as pharynx cancer, oral cavity, larynx, liver, breast, colorectal, and esophagus. Cancer risk rises with the amount of alcohol taken. In 2016, alcohol-related cancers were approximated for over 400,000 deaths globally, mainly among men (World Health Organization, 2021). Other risk factors include human papillomavirus and hepatitis infections, environmental pollution, occupational carcinogens, and radiation (World Health Organization, 2021).
The Role of American Cancer Society (ACS) in Providing Education and Support, and Recommended Service
The ACS could provide cancer information through training healthcare professionals. ACS trained professionals link individuals to answers concerning cancer diagnoses, ACS services and programs, medical insurance assistance, as well as referrals to other services. The ACS website, can...