Abstract

Purpose We examined the concerns that nurses perceive patients to have, whether these arecongruent with patients’ concerns and whether they vary according to cancer site. We alsoexamined Distress Thermometer scores according to cancer site.Method A cross-sectional survey design: (i) secondary analysis of an existing Holistic NeedsAssessment (HNA) and Distress Thermometer (DT) dataset was used, (ii) a survey ofspecialist nurse teams to identify their perceptions of patient concerns. Data collectedbetween January 2015 and June 2016 from the HNA database for one NHS Trust in England(n=1233 patients). Specialist nurse teams for breast, colorectal, gynaecology, skin andurology cancers identified the concerns that they perceived their patients would report.Results The HNA showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.86). Across the fivecancer sites, nurses identified between 3 and 6 of the top ten concerns (TTC) expressed bypatients, with wide variation across sites. Nine of the TTC were significantly associated(p<0.05) with a specific cancer site. The breast and gynaecological cancer groups bothrecorded significantly higher median Distress Thermometer scores than the urology, skin andcolorectal cancer groups (Kruskall-Wallis 2(4, n=1228) 186.695, p=<.01).Conclusions: One of the aims of the eHNA is to enable service delivery appropriate topatient needs. Our findings suggest that this will only be achieved if eHNA is examined, andservices developed, by individual cancer site. The misconception of patient needs byspecialist nurses underscores the importance of review of information provided by patientsduring consultations.

Publication Date

2018-01-01

Publication Title

European Journal of Oncology Nursing

ISSN

1462-3889

Acceptance Date

2018-02-20

Deposit Date

2024-06-04

Embargo Period

2019-03-05

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