Introduction
Most modern cancer treatments focus solely on the disease’s biological aspects, ignoring the psychiatric and societal issues that often accompany cancer. The health of cancer patients may suffer as a result of this failure, which reduces the efficiency of medical treatment. Cancer-related despair and other mental difficulties result in both societal and psychological issues. This paper utilizes the nursing process in articulating the cancer and nursing approaches to care.
Different Types of Cancer Diagnostic Methods
Cancer cannot be reliably diagnosed with a single laboratory test. An in-depth history and physical and medical testing are typically necessary for a complete patient assessment. It takes an array of tests to confirm cancer or rule out the possibility that another disease is responsible for the patient’s symptoms and complications. Imaging tests and endoscopies are two examples of the cancer screening methods available today.
Diagnostic Imaging
New tools and methods in diagnostic radiography have improved cancer detection and allowed some patients to escape surgery in recent years. Medical imaging captures high-quality images of internal organs and other critical bodily parts. It can help find tumors and other anomalies and assess disease severity and therapy efficacy. The Computed Tomography Scan (CT) is one form of imagery used in cancer diagnosis (Huang et al., 2019). Cancerous organs or tissues can be more easily seen with a pigment inserted into a capillary or ingested.
Endoscopic Examination
Doctors can see cancer cells and diagnose the disease using a camera. Colonoscopies are a common endoscopic diagnostic application. Symptoms from various gut diseases can be determined with the help of a colonoscopy (Mitsala et al., 2021). With the assistance of a colonoscope (a long, pliable tube with a camera affixed), an endoscopist can look into the colon and rectum to check for tumors, cancer, and other issues. Therefore, screening colonoscopy is the most efficient method for lowering cancer risks.
Cancer Staging
Staging a malignancy entails measuring how far along its progression the disease is. In the Tumor, Node, and Metastasis (TNM) classification, the entire stage is established after the malignancy is classified into T, N, and M groups, respectively (Cancer Staging, n.d.). The letter T denotes the main growth, and if N is high, the disease has expanded to the lymph nodes in the area. If the cancer has metastasized, as indicated by the letter M, it has moved to other areas of the body.
Primary Tumor (T)
When assessing the extent and location of cancer, physicians begin with the primary (principal) tumor, the site of the disease’s initial development. The extent to which the growth has spread, its position, and its magnitude are all factors to consider. In addition, doctors search the area for additional malignancies. Inevitably, a doctor can put a word or an integer in the T slot.
The letters TX indicate a lack of data or an inability to quantify the main growth (Cancer Staging, n.d.). T0 indicates that the main growth has not been detected (Cancer Staging, n.d.). This indicates that the cancer cells stay put in the tissue stratum where they were first detected (Cancer Staging, n.d.). Pre-cancer or in situ cancers are other names for this condition. The extent of the growth, indicated by the number following the letter T, ranges from one to four.
Lymph Nodes (N)
It is common practice to examine lymph nodes in the area of the main growth to detect the presence of cancer. The lymph nodes are clusters of immune cells about the size of tiny beans (Cancer Staging, n.d). Lymph nodes are a common first point of dissemination for many cancers. When it comes to the lymph nodes in the area, an NX indicates a lack of data or an inability to make a diagnosis, while a N0 indicates no malignancy (Cancer Staging, n.d.). Stage one cancer is localized; stage four cancer means the cancer has expanded beyond the original site.
Metastasis (M)
Finally, physicians may perform additional tests to determine if the disease has moved to other areas of the body. The process by which cancer spreads to other areas of the body away from the original mass is called metastasis (Cancer Staging, n.d.). M0 indicates that no evidence of remote metastasis of malignancy exists. When cancer is classified as M1, it has metastasized to other parts of the body. Other integers after the letter M show the level of metastasis.
Complications of Cancer
Cancer treatments come with a host of potential complications that can worsen the disease. One of the treatment complications in cancer therapy is neutropenia. It is a decline in the body’s primary line of protection against disease: white blood cells. Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia is a serious complication of cancer medication. Lastly, Alopecia is a complication resulting from some such cancers as skin during therapy (Simakou et al., 2019). Some individuals with Alopecia experience hair loss as a result of chemotherapy, but their hair typically comes back after treatment.
Side Effects of Treatment
Loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting are typical side effects of cancer therapy. Cancer and cancer therapy may lead to weight loss because cancer cells deprive the body of resources for healthy cells to develop. This is often independent of dietary factors such as caloric intake. Artificial nourishment delivered via stomach or venous devices has not been shown to reverse weight loss in most instances (Simakou et al., 2019). Constipation or diarrhea can be a side effect of cancer therapy.
Methods to Lessen Physical and Psychological Effects
Several strategies can be used to mitigate the emotional and psychological consequences. Acupuncture is among the most effective treatments for its bodily impacts. Acupuncture has shown promise in alleviating a variety of symptoms associated with cancer and its therapy, including pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and exhaustion. Acupuncture is strongly correlated with diminished cancer pain and lower use of painkillers, as reported by He et al. (2020).
In contrast, hypnotherapy has the potential to alleviate the psychic impacts of invasive medical and surgical treatments in both children and adults. Anxiety and general anguish are common in patients undergoing surgery or medical treatments, but Carlson et al. (2018) suggest that hypnotherapy may help cure or lessen these symptoms. Notably, hypnotherapy is completely risk-free when administered by a qualified medical professional.
Factors
Monitoring and improving cancer control measures require a thorough assessment of the present frequency of cancer risk factors, immunization, and screening. Cancer mortality statistics in the United States have fallen consistently since the 1990s (Siegel et al., 2018). Still, there were about 607,000 cancer-related fatalities in 2019, with 45% of those being attributable to such preventable causes as smoking and excess body weight (EBW) (Islami et al., 2018; Goding Sauer et al., 2019).
Cigarette smoking, for instance, is responsible for about 29% of all cancer fatalities; however, this percentage is anticipated to be even higher in groups where smoking prevalence remains high (Drope et al., 2018). About 7% of all cancer fatalities in women are attributable to EBW, though this number may be higher in black and Hispanic women, where obesity rates are over 50% (Goding Sauer et al., 2019). Increased, comprehensive initiatives are required to decrease the frequency of preventable risk factors further and enhance screening and immunization.
American Cancer Society (ACS)
The ACS and its workers affect legislation, information dissemination, and community actions through study projects and joint partnerships. Cancer patients and their families can count on the ACS for evidence and assistance with cancer treatments and prevention. The group also advocates for wholesome habits to ward off the disease. Supporting the community’s efforts to provide knowledge, answers, and support to people dealing with cancer, the company also conducts studies on the causes of cancer to discover more solutions and improved therapies.
A nurse may suggest the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge programs as part of a cancer patient’s care. When traveling for cancer therapy, ACS Hope Lodge settlements provide a comfortable place for patients and their loved ones to stay (Hope Lodge, n.d.). Nurses and palliative care providers recognize the value of this service. For instance, hospice care is treatment aimed at enhancing patients’ quality of life despite the terminal nature of their illness. Since the service provided by the ACS considers the whole individual and not just their illness, which can be restricted in a home-based care setting, palliative care can be provided with or without treatment.
Nursing Process
Five distinct actions constitute the nursing process: assessing, diagnosing, planning, executing through implementation, and evaluating. When caring for a patient with cancer, nurses have a long list of duties that they must establish using the nursing process (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2023). Face-to-face conversation and contact are required to conduct an assessment focused on the patient’s needs. The nurse engages in methodical, ongoing data analysis regarding a patient during this phase (ANA, 2023). This information may reveal that an individual has trouble moving out of bed, is not eating, is not talking to family, is angry at the medical staff, is anxious, or needs more pain medicine.
The patient’s bodily and emotional health is investigated in the second phase, called diagnosis. The diagnosis indicates that the patient is sick and that the patient’s discomfort can potentially cause additional symptoms such as worry, poor nourishment, and interpersonal conflict.
The third stage is planning, where nursing care is delivered in line with the care plan from the beginning of their medical stay until they are ready to be discharged (ANA, 2023). Based on the findings and prognosis, a physician then formulates specific, attainable, and time-bound treatment goals for the patient (ANA, 2023). In planning, palliative care plans may include members of the patient’s interdisciplinary care team, including religious or spiritual leaders, community nurses, a therapist, and the patient’s loved ones.
After a strategy has been developed, goals can be implemented in the fourth stage. In this situation, immediate concerns, such as pain relief, take precedence. Palliative care, such as accommodation, may be involved in long-term plans due to job loss in people with cancer (ANA, 2023).
Lastly, in the evaluation phase, the effectiveness of the cancer therapy plan is assessed. For each form of cancer, a scorecard can be used with progress ratings over time. The assessment should include global score values that the nurse can use to gauge the effectiveness of their care for cancer patients.
Interdisciplinary Research Approach
The nursing program strongly emphasizes the liberal arts and social studies. The topics are believed to foster analytical thinking, imaginative capacity, and comprehensive caregiving skills. The liberal arts are beneficial in cancer treatment because they help students develop skills in communication, universal thinking, navigating differences, decision-making, and personal growth (Mukhamedzhanovna et al., 2021).
Moreover, modern-day nurses face an increasingly complicated patient care setting. Mathematical analysis aids in articulating records and data, allowing physicians to calculate and predict cancer progression (Andersson & Silver, 2019). However, nursing education necessitates coursework in the social and physical disciplines (Held et al., 2019). Cancer care plans benefit from nurse-patient interactions in social settings because they foster an understanding of human anatomy and physiology in illness and health.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the treatment and care of patients with cancer are challenging. For instance, diagnosing the disease is difficult, yet once found, treatment has several complications, such as weight loss, diarrhea, and constipation. With the help of ACS services such as Hope Lodge, a nurse can plan palliative care for specific cancer patients. As such, a nurse in cancer treatment requires the utilization of interdisciplinary research approaches in offering patient-centered, holistic care with the help of the nursing process.
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