Identifying and responding to depression in adult cancer patients: evaluating the efficacy of a pilot communication skills training program for oncology nurses.

Depression is a common response among cancer patients to their diagnosis and treatment; however, it goes undetected by healthcare providers in about 50% of cases. Communication skills training has been suggested as means to help nurses detect and respond to patient depression. We developed and pilot tested a communication skills training workshop based around 6 strategies.

Functional status after primary surgical therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue.

Introduction: Quality-of-life analysis is essential in determining the eventual outcome after treatment for head and neck cancer. This is particularly important when functional sequelae of treatment cause significant morbidity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the functional status of a group of patients who had undergone primary surgical therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue.