12 CONTACT HOUR CANCER NURSING, PREVENTION AND EARLY DEECTION FOR THE ADULT PATIENT

Course overview

Nurses who work in inpatient or outpatient settings with adult cancer patients face a wide array of challenges. Oncology treatment is a rapidly-changing field with an ever-expanding body of knowledge and compelling opportunities. After a patient is diagnosed with cancer, nurses perform comprehensive assessments to identify potential issues that can affect treatment as well as help the patient identify problem areas and pinpoint major concerns. Nurses are positioned to assist in addressing the needs for information, interventions, and referrals as well as offering other helpful measures. Nurses are tasked to help patients understand complex medical regimens, consider options, and make decisions that are suitable for them and their situations. All of this demands a commitment to seek out current information, find and evaluate standards of practice, and adopt the best approaches to patient care. This course focuses on cancer prevention, early cancer detection, and nursing care of adults with cancer during and after treatment. This course is intended to help nurses provide not only cancer care, but accurate and up-to-date information as well. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1.Educate patients about options for finding (or preventing) colorectal cancer and help them choose a colorectal cancer screening method that they might actually follow. 2.Offer patients specific resources to help them quit smoking. 3.Discuss fertility with patients before treatment to help them select effective options for fertility preservation. 4.Discuss with patient the complications and other risks linked with smoking during cancer treatment. 5.Help patients reduce the severity of cancer-treatment-related fatigue. 6.Intervene to help prevent nausea and vomiting due to cytotoxic cancer drug treatment regimens. 7.Locate information about and recognize the types of interactions that are likely to happen due to CYP enzyme system-based drug incompatibilities. 8.Discuss with patients their understanding of the reasons for different types of cancer treatment, such as curative intent, control of cancer growth, and palliative or comfort treatments. 9.Recognize symptoms suspicious of neutropenic (necrotizing) enterocolitis. 10.Make patients aware of possible time limitations on the availability of their medical records, which may be needed at a later date.