Adult Cancer Patients' Perceptions of Factors That Influence Hospital Admissions.

Purpose/aims: To explore cancer patients' perceptions of factors that influence hospital readmissions.

Design: A cross-sectional, prospective design was employed utilizing a 1-time survey and brief interviews to measure patients' perceptions and unplanned hospital admissions.

Methods And Variables: The principal investigator collected data from medical record review, the Hospital Admission Survey, and interviews to measure patient characteristics and perceptions of influencing factors that contributed to an unplanned hospital admission upon admission.

Unplanned emergency department visits and hospital admissions of older adults under treatment for cancer in the ambulatory/community setting.

Purpose: This study aims to identify the incidence and risk/protective factors for (1) unplanned emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions (HA) and (2) nausea/vomiting/dehydration (NVD) at time of treatment in older adults under treatment for cancer.

Materials And Methods: This is a exploratory retrospective cohort study of adults (60 and older) with cancer. Adults were included if they had a new cancer diagnosis and were being treated with chemotherapy.

Learning Needs of Women Who Undergo Robotic Versus Open Gynecologic Surgery.

Objectives: To compare the learning needs of women undergoing robotic versus open (laparotomy) gynecologic surgery for benign and cancerous conditions.

Design: Descriptive exploratory study.

Setting: A tertiary care hospital in Orlando, Florida.

Developing the Tracheostomy Care Anxiety Relief Through Education and Support (T-CARES) Program.

Home care of a patient with a tracheostomy after surgery for head and neck cancer requires caregivers to be comfortable with handling medical equipment and to be competent and proficient with completing many new and complex tasks. However, the responsibility of managing an artificial airway may increase caregiver anxiety, which may subsequently lead to improper care of the patient with head and neck cancer and increase the risk for complications and rate of readmission to oncology units. This article describes the development and outcomes of the Tracheostomy Care Anxiety Relief Through Education and Support (T-CARES) program, developed in response to high readmission rates for patients with head and neck cancer discharged with a tracheostomy.

Advances and Challenges: Student Reflections From an Online Death and Dying Course.

This study describes nursing students' reflections on taking an online course on death and dying. In a semistructured paper, students described fears of caring for clients at end of life (EOL), important content learned, and remaining discomforts. Data were analyzed using directed content analysis.

A Pap test does not screen for everything: nurse practitioner knowledge of ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Nurse practitioners (NPs) are in a prime position to educate women about initial signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer (OC) and perform appropriate screening tests. However, little is known about NPs knowledge regarding OC. This article's purpose is to present the outcomes of a focused OC awareness program for NP students.

"A bump in the road": older women's views on surviving breast cancer.

Due to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, surviving with breast cancer will become more common, but also more complicated, as older women are often dealing with additional chronic illnesses and problems of aging. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how older women view surviving breast cancer in context with aging. Findings suggest that most women are able to put their cancer experience in the background and come to view breast cancer as a bump in the road through expecting illness with aging, putting cancer in perspective, and sensing a partnership.

Posttreatment concerns of older women with early-stage breast cancer.

Background: The majority of older (aged ≥65 years) women diagnosed with breast cancer are in the early stage. However, little is known about older women's posttreatment concerns in the early stages of survivorship.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe posttreatment-related concerns of older, early-stage breast cancer survivors.

Preliminary evaluation of psychoeducational support interventions on quality of life in rural breast cancer survivors after primary treatment.

Although most cancer survivors are at risk for being lost in the transition from treatment to survivorship, rural breast cancer survivors face special challenges that might place them at particular risk. This small-scale preliminary study had 2 specific aims: (aim 1) establish the feasibility of rural breast cancer survivors participation in a longitudinal quality of life (QOL) intervention trial and (aim 2) determine the effects of the Breast Cancer Education Intervention (BCEI) on overall QOL. Fifty-three rural breast cancer survivors were randomized to either an experimental (n = 27) or a wait-control arm (n = 26).

Quality of life in older women with early-stage breast cancer in the first year of survivorship.

Purpose/objectives: To describe quality-of-life (QOL) changes in older women with early-stage breast cancer in the first year of survivorship and report on the effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention on survivors' QOL.

Design: Secondary analysis, descriptive, repeated measure.

Setting: An academic setting in the southeastern United States.

Transition from treatment to survivorship: effects of a psychoeducational intervention on quality of life in breast cancer survivors.

Purpose/objectives: To examine the effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention on quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer survivors in post-treatment survivorship.

Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Setting: An academic center collaborating with a regional cancer center in the southeastern United States.

Application of the CuSum technique to evaluate changes in recruitment strategies.

Background: While lagging subject enrollment in longitudinal clinical trials is a complex problem, the best recruitment strategy has not been established. Cumulative summation (CuSum) is a statistical process control procedure often applied in quality improvement efforts to detect trend shifts in highly variable serial data.

Objectives: To describe changes in efforts to increase referrals and enrollment in a longitudinal quality-of-life breast cancer study, determine effects of changes in referral strategies on enrollment using a novel application of CuSum, and discuss implications of CuSum as a tool for prospectively managing the subject recruitment process.

Interventions that address cancer health disparities in women.

Health disparities exist in cancer incidence and mortality rates among certain populations. Women of low socioeconomic status and minority women are at particular risk for not adhering to recommended cancer screening guidelines. Such behaviors may contribute to disparities when cancers are discovered at later stages, contributing to higher mortality rates in these women.

Cardiac toxicity related to cancer treatment.

Cardiac toxicity is a dose-limiting toxicity that may occur during cancer treatment or several years after therapy ends. Cardiac toxicity may be caused by chemotherapy, biotherapy, and radiation therapy and may result in cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, dysrhythmias, and myocardial ischemia. The risk for developing cardiac toxicity varies based on type of treatment, patient age, presence of preexisting or concurrent heart disease, and concomitant treatment.