Cancer and Nursing Approach to Care
The nursing process is a tool that puts knowledge into practice. By utilizing this systematic problem-solving method, nurses can determine the health care needs of an individual and provide personalized care.
Write a paper (1,750-2,000 words) on cancer and approach to care based on the utilization of the nursing process. Include the following in your paper:
Describe the different types of diagnostic methods utilized to identify possibility of cancer. Explain the numeric and Tumor, Node, Metastasized (TNM) method of staging of cancer after the confirmed diagnosis.
Describe at least three complications of cancer, the side effects of treatment, and methods to lessen physical and psychological effects.
Discuss what factors contribute to the yearly incidence and mortality rates of various cancers in Americans.
Explain what the American Cancer Society (ACS) might provide for education and support. What ACS services could a nurse recommend for these patients and why?
Explain how the nursing process is utilized to provide safe and effective care for cancer patients across the life span. Your explanation should include each of the five phases demonstrating the delivery of holistic and patient-focused care.
How does an interdisciplinary research approach (which includes liberal arts, science studies, mathematics, social and physical sciences), build on the foundational nursing knowledge related to cancer research?
You are required to cite a minimum of four sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Cancer and Nursing Approach to Care
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Introduction
A nursing process is a systematic approach to patient care that utilizes the fundamental principles of goal-oriented tasks, critical thinking, nursing intuition, evidence-based practice recommendations, and client-centered approaches to treatment. It is a tool that puts knowledge into practice. As a systematic guide to patient-centered care, the nursing process has five sequential steps (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2022). These steps are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment entails critical thinking and data collection. Data collected can either be objective (measurable and tangible data) or subjective (verbal sentiments from caregivers or patients). Diagnosis entails the attachment of clinical judgments as a response to potential or actual health issues. The clinical judgments that assist nurses in making diagnoses for health problems are provided for by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA). The diagnosis utilizes Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in selecting the most relevant plan of care as per the patient-centered outcome. Planning entails the formulation of outcomes and goals that directly impact client care. These goals are as per the evidence-based practice guidelines.
The implementation step is the actual utilization of the nursing interventions arrived at the plan of care. The last step, evaluation, is the process of reassessing the outcomes of the treatment intervention utilized in nursing care. The nursing process is significant for the management of terminal illnesses such as cancer. Cancer is among the leading causes of death on the globe. It is an ailment where some of the body cells grow or divide uncontrollably and then spread to (or infiltrate) other parts of the body where they destroy the normal body cell. Cancer is not only a human being disease as it also affects animals (Aslam & Mehmood, 2020). The health and economic impacts of cancer are enormous and hence significant. Therefore, there is a need for the implementation of an effective cancer nursing process. This study assesses insights into cancer diagnosis and treatment approaches as per the nursing process, complications that may accrue, and the factors that contribute to the yearly mortality and incidence rates of cancer in America. Additionally, the nursing educational role of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the significance of an interdisciplinary research approach to cancer research are discussed.
Cancer Diagnosis and Staging
A cancer diagnosis is a process by which a doctor performs a physical or machine-assisted exam on a patient and keenly assesses the symptoms to determine if the patient has cancer or not. The symptoms of cancer include weight loss or gain, fatigue, persistent cough, skin changes, and bowel changes among others. Various tests can be used to diagnose cancer. Among the popular methods are laboratory tests, imaging tests, Biopsies, and physical examinations. In laboratory tests, the doctor takes body samples such as urine, blood, body fluids, and tissue cells and measures them to assess the levels of various key body substances. These samples are tested for tumor markers that may be produced by cancerous cells or other body cells in response to cancer. Imaging tests utilize equipment such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Tomography (CT) scan, nuclear scan, Ultrasound, PET scan, X-rays, and bone scan to create pictures that help the doctor identify the presence of tumors.
Physical examinations occur when the doctor feels some parts of a patient’s body are suspected to have cancerous cells. Enlargement of body organs and changes in skin color are abnormalities that may indicate the presence of cancer in the body. The biopsy is the most efficient cancer detector (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2020). It is a medical procedure where a doctor removes a tissue sample from the body and sends it to a pathologist who looks at it under a microscope. Additionally, the pathologists run various tests on the tissue to determine if it contains cancerous cells or not. The tissue sample is obtained via a needle (for liver biopsies and bone marrow aspirations), an endoscopy (which is inserted into the natural body openings such as the anus), or surgery (either incisional or excisional). Cancer staging refers to the extent of cancer in the body. For instance, the size of a tumor and if it has spread to other body organs. It is a crucial process as it helps the doctor understand the seriousness of cancer and the chances of the patient’s survival.
Consequently, staging enables the doctor to identify the relevant clinical trials and plan the most appropriate treatment procedures for the patients. The staging systems entail information about the location of the tumor in the body, its size, and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body or the nearby lymph nodes. The most commonly used cancer staging system is the TNM system (Rosen & Sapra, 2021). The T stands for tumor and it refers to the extent and size of the primary (main) tumor. N stands for nodes and refers to the number of lymph nodes infiltrated by cancer while M stands for metastasized and refers to the extent to which cancer has spread (beyond the lymph nodes) from the primary tumor to the other parts of the body. Numbers are indicated after each letter to give more details about cancer. The higher the number the more advanced the cancer is. Besides the type, location, and size of cancer, the treatment approach used on a patient also depends on the stage (extent) of cancer. At the early cancer stages, radiation and surgery are most appropriate while immunotherapy and chemotherapy are suitable for the treatment of more advanced cancer.
Complications, treatments, and side-effects
The treatment of cancer results in complications and side effects. Among them is pain which can be controlled or relieved by pain medications. Radiation and chemotherapy result in fatigue among the patients. The fatigue is temporary and manageable. It also causes significant weight loss as the cancer cells steal nutrients from the normal body cells to fuel the abnormal growth of the cancerous cells. It is difficult to manage weight loss as the use of feeding tubes into the veins or stomach has proven to be ineffective. Cancer cells may press on the nearby nerves thereby leading to neurological and brain issues such as stroke and consistent headaches. Other complications include the rapid spread of cancer throughout other parts of the body and the recurrence of cancer after surviving the first cancer ailment. The side effects of the treatment procedures deployed by a doctor on a patient vary and some can be managed while others result in permanent conditions.
One of the side effects is neutropenia or the reduction of the white blood cells which are tasked with defending the body from infections. It normally occurs after chemotherapy. Neutropenia leaves the patient vulnerable to contracting other infections such as ...