Approach to Care: Cancer

Approach to Care: Cancer
Name:
Institution:
Date:
Approaches to Cancer Care
Cancer as a disease impacts many people globally, for example in the United Kingdom and Wales it is estimated that approximately 250,000 people are diagnosed with cancer annually. Moreover, an additional over one million people present with symptoms attributed to cancer CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
In addition to treatment, cancer patients expect to be heard, be treated humanely, provided quality information of their condition, understand their treatment options, have informed consent, emotional and financial support just to mention a few CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011). To meet these needs, several cancer care approaches have been developed and include; standard treatment, clinical trials, palliative or supportive care, and hospice or home care CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
Standard treatment is the most recent approach to cancer care and also the most effective. This approach depends on several aspects of cancer that are; the type, the spread, the proteins involved, the cancer markers or the affected genes CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011). The focus is controlling the disease especially to patients with advanced cancer. The patient here has a choice to stop or continue with treatment that is usually directed to the disease and involves surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy in isolation or combined CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
Clinical trials comprise of controlled studies on volunteers. It involves conducting tests for new drugs and treatment methods to determine their effectiveness compared to standard treatment approaches CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011). When this is done on patients with advance cancer, it helps other cancer patients and in some cases the patient themselves. CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
In addition, there is palliative or supportive care. This involves the management of cancer treatment symptoms and side effects. Under this care, physical, practical, emotional and spiritual needs of an individual are addressed. The focus here shifts from treatment to providing care that is compassionate with the aim of providing quality life CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
Finally, hospice or homecare is another approach to cancer care and usually for patients in the terminal stage of their cancer. The aim here is assisting patients not under standard treatment including their families cope with the negative effects of death and dying. This may be done at home or specialized facility CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011).
Diagnosis of Cancer
There is no isolated approach for diagnosing cancer. Physical and historical examinations are usually conducted in combination with diagnostic tests. However, cancer screening is the most common method of cancer diagnosis. This involves checking for a disease at its asymptomatic stage CITATION Mor13 \l 1033 (Morris, et al., 2013). These tests are aimed at detecting cancer at an early stage for treatment, reduce its prognosis, or determine risks of developing cancer in future. Examples include; mammogram (breast cancer), prostate-specific antigen blood level (prostate cancer), fecal occult blood test and colonoscopy (colon cancer), and Pap smear (cervical cancer) CITATION Mor13 \l 1033 (Morris, et al., 2013).
Staging of Cancer
Cancer and its progress are described in stages. Each stage depends on how severe the cancer is when diagnosed where the size of the tumor, growth, and spread to lymph nodes, adjacent or distant organs are considered CITATION Mor13 \l 1033 (Morris, et al., 2013). This is important for the determination of treatment and care approaches and determining fitness of the patient to clinical trials and information exchange among researchers and care providers CITATION Mor13 \l 1033 (Morris, et al., 2013).
The stages of cancer depended on its progress. Cancer is classified first according to the ‘TNM' system where T is the size and tumor extent, N is spread to adjacent lymph nodes, and M refers to spread to distant cells. From this classification, it is categorized into four stages that are stage 0, I, II, III, and IV CITATION Mor13 \l 1033 (Morris, et al., 2013).
Stage 0 (in situ) ...