Cancer nursing
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Pain associated with cancer and its treatment continues to be a significant concern for those persons diagnosed with the illness. This article will focus on pain syndromes associated with surgical interventions for women with breast cancer. ⋯ Treatment strategies and implications for nursing interventions employed in caring for these women will also be discussed. Nurses can use information about postmastectomy pain syndromes to educate their patients, to cooperate in successfully managing effects of the disease and treatment, and to help women cope after breast cancer surgery.
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Pain can cause both physical and psychological distress that has a negative impact on a patient's quality of life. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine whether cancer patients (N = 60) with pain (n = 30) had higher scores of depression, anxiety, somatization, and hostility than did cancer patients without pain (n = 30). The study was conducted in a midwestern medical center hospital during a 9-month period. ⋯ Patients with pain scored higher on all four subscales of the BSI, with significant differences occurring in somatization (t = 2.05, p < 0.05) and hostility (t = 1.93, p < 0.05). The findings suggest a relationship between pain intensity and psychological status. Nursing interventions aimed at reducing these factors may help to decrease the pain, in addition to then decreasing the psychological distress experienced by patients with cancer.