Title

Do Patients with Breast Cancer Participating in Clinical Trials Receive Better Nursing Care?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1997

Source

Oncology Nursing Forum

Volume

24

Issue

8

First Page

1411

Last Page

1416

Abstract

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine differences in nursing care received by patients with breast cancer enrolled in clinical trials and those not enrolled in clinical trials.

DESIGN: Retrospective review of clinic charts.

SETTING: Oncology outpatient department of a tertiary-care hospital. SAMPLE: 90 women with early stage breast cancer. The mean age of the women was 53 years. More than half of the women (51 of 90) were treated in a clinical trial.

METHODS: Retrospective chart review of all the nurse-patient clinic encounters for a six-month period from date of cancer diagnosis. The content of each encounter was coded using a modified version of the Nursing Action Classification System.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Nursing interventions (i.e., assessment, medical scheduling, psychosocial scheduling, reassurance, and teaching) and phone calls.

FINDINGS: Women enrolled in clinical trials had more phone interactions with nursing staff (p = 0.003) and received teaching (p < 0.001) and reassurance (p = 0.005) from nursing staff more often than women not enrolled in clinical trials. Controlling for age and stage of disease, teaching (p < 0.001), and reassurance (p = 0.10) were the primary differences in nursing care between the patients enrolled in clinical trials and those not enrolled.

CONCLUSION: Differences in nursing care received exist between patients with breast cancer enrolled in clinical trials and those not enrolled.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Both teaching and reassurance are important components of caring for patients with cancer and are associated with treatment compliance. If the results of this study are confirmed, measures must be employed to ensure that all patients receive optimal care.

Notes

This article is not available online here. If you are affiliated with The University of Western Ontario, please use the Shared Library Catalogue's Advanced Search to check whether the journal in which this article was published is available in Western Libraries.
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Dr. Charles Weijer is currently a faculty member at The University of Western Ontario.

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