Nutrition and oncology: best practice and the development of a traffic light system

Multidisciplinary working is vital to proactively manage the nutritional care of oncology patients, whether this is via oral nutritional support or prophylactic/reactive enteral feeding..

Addressing patient sexuality issues in cancer and palliative care

There are many challenges to sexuality assessment and the barriers appear to be complex in nature. de Vocht et al (2011) examined the differences between patient expectations and those of health...

The legacy of the pandemic

The psychological impact of active surveillance in men with prostate cancer: implications for nursing care

The PRISMA flow diagram (Figure 1) illustrates the process used within this literature review to screen search results using the eligibility criteria (Moher et al, 2009). The search was carried out...

An innovative cancer care partnership for patients in the community

‘Ultimately, our collaboration is all about bringing treatment close to home, to improve access to care for patients and make a difficult time as convenient and comfortable for them as possible’ .

The importance of understanding burnout: an oncology nurse perspective

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion resulting in increased mental distance and low personal satisfaction in work activities (Sabo, 2011; Maslach and Leiter, 2016; Dyrbye et...

Reflections on a uro-oncology clinical nurse specialist training post

‘Our ultimate aim is to support our patients throughout their cancer pathway, acting as a patient advocate to ensure their needs are heard and met’ .

Vascular access device securement for oncology patients and those with chronic diseases

As the vascular access specialist at a rural hospital in southern Indiana, the author collaborated with oncologists and patients to determine the appropriate long-term VAD for patients receiving a new...

Adapting a 2-week-wait colorectal service in the pandemic using the quantitative faecal immunochemical test

Bowel dysfunction after surgery

The function of the gastrointestinal tract is to ingest and digest food and fluids, absorb nutrients and eliminate any waste products (Tortora and Derrickson, 2014). Ingestion generally occurs via the...

Psychological issues affecting patients living with a stoma

More than two decades ago Bekkers et al's (1995) seminal study of patients' ability to cope with, and their expectations of life after, stoma surgery, included self-efficacy, task performance and...

Stoma formation as a palliative procedure: the role of the clinical nurse specialist in maintaining quality of life

Stoma formation as a treatment for colorectal cancer involves bringing out a section of bowel onto the abdomen as either an ileostomy (from the ileum) or colostomy (from the colon). A bag is then worn...