The Potential Role for Smartphones Among Older Adults with Chronic Noncancer Pain: A Qualitative Study.

Objective: To determine the role that smartphones may play in supporting older adults with chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) in order to improve pain management in this expanding population.

Design: Qualitative study.

Setting: One academically affiliated primary care practice serving older adults with CNCP in New York City.

Distress and Coping Self-Efficacy in Inpatient Oncology Nurses.

Purpose/objectives: To examine distress and coping self-efficacy in inpatient oncology nurses. 
.

Design: Cross-sectional survey design.

Mobile health-based approaches for smoking cessation resources.

Purpose/objectives: To describe how the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (CIS) smoking-related resources on a mobile health (mHealth) platform were integrated into the workflow of RNs in advanced practice nurse (APN) training and to examine awareness and use of CIS resources and nurses' perceptions of the usefulness of those CIS resources.

Design: Descriptive analyses.

Setting: Acute and primary care sites affiliated with the School of Nursing at Columbia University.

Current practices in advance care planning: implications for oncology nurses.

Discussions regarding advance care planning (ACP) among patients with cancer and their physicians largely are not happening. Many patients with cancer, even those at the end of life (EOL), have not established an advance directive (AD). Lack of EOL discussions and receipt of aggressive care at the EOL have resulted in poor health outcomes for patients.

Oncology nurses' use of National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines for chemotherapy-induced and febrile neutropenia.

Purpose/objectives: To describe oncology nurses' use of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) clinical practice guidelines for chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) and febrile neutropenia (FN).

Design: Cross-sectional survey design; descriptive, correlational analysis.

Setting: E-mail invitation to Web-based survey.

Development of the MASCC Teaching Tool for Patients Receiving Oral Agents for Cancer.

Background: Oral agents for cancer treatment commonly are prescribed throughout the world. Since oral agents usually are self-administered or administered by lay caregivers, patient education is vital to help ensure that the oral agents are being stored, handled, and taken correctly. When oral agents are taken as prescribed and patients are well informed about signs and symptoms to report, patient outcomes are optimized.

Neutropenia: state of the knowledge part II.

Purpose/objectives: To summarize the current available evidence for oncology nurses so that they may predict and prevent complications of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN), provide optimal education to patients, and become familiar with the state of the knowledge of neutropenia by understanding the evidence and guidelines for patients with cancer who may experience CIN.

Data Sources: Review of primary literature, meta-analyses, available systematic reviews, clinical practice guidelines, and discussions at the State of the Knowledge on Neutropenia Symposium.

Data Synthesis: The evidence for nursing interventions to prevent CIN complications is underdeveloped.

Neutropenia: state of the knowledge part I.

Purpose/objectives: To review neutrophil physiology, consequences of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN), CIN risk assessment models, national practice guidelines, the impact of febrile neutropenia and infection, and what is known and unknown about CIN.

Data Sources: Extensive review and summary of published neutropenia literature, guidelines, meta-analyses, currently funded National Institutes of Health and Oncology Nursing Society studies, and invited expert panel symposium presentations.

Data Synthesis: A comprehensive review of current literature regarding CIN risk assessment, practice guidelines, management, impact on dose-dense and dose-intense cancer treatment, complications, costs related to hospitalizations, and treatment strategies has been compiled.

Evidence-based nursing practice to prevent infection in hospitalized neutropenic patients with cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To review studies that have assessed the effectiveness of selected nursing interventions used in hospitals to prevent healthcare-associated infections in neutropenic patients with cancer.

Data Sources: Literature review of low microbial diets, protective clothing and environments, personal hygiene, and oral care in English-language articles from PubMed; the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature; the National Guideline Clearinghouse, 1980-June 2003; and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Data Synthesis: Few studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of low microbial food and water and protective environments and clothing in reducing infections in neutropenic patients with cancer, and hospitals vary in these practices.

Emergency department waiting times for patients with cancer with febrile neutropenia: a pilot study.

Purpose/objectives: To determine the time frame for evaluation and treatment of adult patients with febrile neutropenia in the emergency department (ED).

Design: Prospective, descriptive survey.

Setting: ED in a large, urban, academic health center.

Managing hematologic toxicities: novel therapies.

Myelosuppression associated with cancer chemotherapy may lead to neutropenia, anemia, or both, resulting in an increased risk for infection, fatigue, diminished quality of life, and reduced survival. In addition, neutropenia specifically has been shown to result in dose reductions, treatment delays, or both in subsequent chemotherapy cycles. Hematopoietic growth factors have been used effectively as supportive therapy to reduce chemotherapy-associated neutropenia and anemia.