Cancer nursing
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Neuropathic pain is present in at least 25-40% of people with cancer pain and is thought to be more difficult to control than other types of cancer related pain. ⋯ These results highlight the ongoing need for research evaluating methods of treating neuropathic pain; education regarding assessment and management of neuropathic pain; and aggressive efforts to relieve neuropathic pain in oncology settings.
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When cancer patients at the end of life stay at home, family caregivers are often directly implicated in the care. One challenge is pain management. They are often unprepared and unsupported as they attempt to meet this responsibility. There are few studies that examine what this responsibility entails. ⋯ Understanding that family caregivers are continuously engaging in specific processes as they prepare for and implement pain management strategies can help health care providers tailor their interventions to specific parts of the complex process of family caregiver management of palliative care cancer patients' pain.
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Cancer patients can present with a risk of suicide, making it important for oncology nurses to be knowledge about the high-risk factors for suicide in this population and to be competent in suicide detection and management. ⋯ Oncology nurses are likely to interact with patients at suicide risk and would benefit from knowledge about behavioral and demographic risk factors that contribute to an oncology patient becoming high risk for suicide. Such knowledge could contribute to overall patient safety.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized controlled trial of home-based exercise for cancer-related fatigue in women during and after chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy.
Few studies have evaluated an individualized home-based exercise prescription during and after cancer treatment. ⋯ Clinicians need to be aware that some physical activity is better than none, and there is no harm in exercise as tolerated during cancer treatment. Further analysis is needed to examine the adherence to exercise. More frequent assessments of fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and pain may capture the effect of exercise.