Effect of an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program on quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer: review of clinical experience.

Background: Patients with head and neck cancer experience complex posttreatment challenges. In a preliminary uncontrolled study, we evaluated the extent to which they can benefit from an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients completed an 8-week nutrition-rehabilitation program.

Rehabilitation: long-term physical and functional changes following treatment.

Objectives: To describe the life altering issues that survivors of a head and neck cancer report post treatment and discuss multidimensional rehabilitation approaches.

Data Sources: Published journal articles, literature reviews, research reports, book chapters.

Conclusion: Survivors and their family caregivers encounter many changes during the first 3 months following treatment for head and neck cancer, placing them at risk of multiple adjustment difficulties.

Impact of a pivot nurse in oncology on patients with lung or breast cancer: symptom distress, fatigue, quality of life, and use of healthcare resources.

Purpose/objectives: To examine the impact on continuity of nursing care delivered by a pivot nurse in oncology to improve symptom relief and outcomes for patients with lung or breast cancer.

Design: Randomized controlled trial in which participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 93) with care by a pivot nurse in oncology and usual care by clinic nurses or to a control group (n = 97) with usual care only.

Setting: Three outpatient ambulatory oncology clinics in a large university health center in Quebec, Canada.

Assessing the reliability and validity of the revised WCCNR stomatitis staging system for cancer therapy-induced stomatitis.

Before developing interventions for stomatitis, nurses require a simple, valid and reliable approach to staging severity. The eight-item WCCNR(R) was previously validated for chemotherapy-induced stomatitis. In this study, the validity and reliability of the WCCNR(R), a shorter three-item tool for staging stomatitis caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or both, was assessed.