Benchmark – Nursing Process: Approach to Care
The nursing process is a tool that puts knowledge into practice. By utilizing this systematic problem-solving method, nurses can determine the health care needs of an individual and provide personalized care.
Write a paper (1,750-2,000 words) on cancer and approach to care based on the utilization of the nursing process. Include the following in your paper:
Describe the diagnosis and staging of cancer.
Describe at least three complications of cancer, the side effects of treatment, and methods to lessen physical and psychological effects.
Discuss what factors contribute to the yearly incidence and mortality rates of various cancers in Americans.
Explain how the American Cancer Society (ACS) might provide education and support. What ACS services would you recommend and why?
Explain how the nursing process is utilized to provide safe and effective care for cancer patients across the life span. Your explanation should include each of the five phases and demonstrate the delivery of holistic and patient-focused care.
Discuss how undergraduate education in liberal arts and science studies contributes to the foundation of nursing knowledge and prepares nurses to work with patients utilizing the nursing process. Consider mathematics, social and physical sciences, and science studies as an interdisciplinary research area.
You are required to cite to a minimum of four sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
Sample Answer
Cancer
Cancer is a disease in which some cells of the body tend to grow in a manner that is not controllable and spreads to other body parts. The disease can start anywhere in the human body. There are different types of cancer. Examples include lung cancer, brain cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia. Cancer is considered to be a genetic disease that is caused by changes to genes that control the manner in which our cells function, grow and divide.
Diagnosis
The first step to diagnosing cancer is by the health provider asking the patient about their family and personal medical history as well as doing a physical exam. The health provider can also perform lab tests when diagnosing cancer. To determine the levels of different body substances lab tests can be used. High or low levels of some substances can be a sign of cancer. Some lab tests that can be carried out to determine the levels of these substances include urine, blood, or other body fluids. Tissue or blood samples can also be tested for tumor markers. As a form of response to cancer tumor markers can be produced by cancer cells or other body cells. CT scan can also be used to diagnose cancer. It helps diagnose the presence of a tumor as well as provide information about the stage of cancer. Nuclear scan, MRI, PET scan, bone scan, X-rays, and ultrasound are other tests that can be used to diagnose cancer. A biopsy is another method that can be used to diagnose cancer. A biopsy involves the removal of sample tissue. The sample is then reviewed under a microscope and also other tests carried out by a pathologist to determine if the sample is cancerous. There are different ways through which a biopsy sample can be obtained. This includes the use of endoscopy, needles, or surgery (Kasivisvanathan et al., 2018).
Staging
Staging of cancer helps describe the tumor size, parts of the organ that have been affected by cancer, and the parts of the body where cancer has spread. Staging of cancer also helps the health provider to know how much cancer is in the body and where it is when first diagnosed. The commonly used is the TNM staging system and stage grouping.
In the TNM staging system, the T is used to describe the tumor in terms of the tumor size, whether it has affected other parts of the organ with cancer, or tissues around the organ. For further description, numbers 1 to 4 are used, whereby the higher the number, the larger the tumor. The N is used to describe the lymph nodes. It helps determine whether the lymph nodes near the organ have been affected by cancer. It is described using N0-N3. N0 means that there are no nearby lymph nodes that have been affected by cancer. N1-N3 means that cancer has affected the nearby lymph nodes and also represents the number of lymph nodes that have been affected (Spolverato et al., 2015). The letter M describes the process of metastasis. This helps the health provider to determine whether cancer has spread to other body parts through the lymphatic system or blood. The staging system is described from stage 0-stage IV. For stage 0, there is normally the presence of abnormal cells, but they usually have not spread to nearby tissues. A high number is an indication that the cancer has spread into different body parts and the size of the cancer tumor is also big. Other staging systems of cancer that can be used include localized whereby in such a case, there is usually no sign that cancer has spread; rather, it is limited to the place where it started. In situ is a staging system abnormal tend to be present but have not yet spread to nearby tissues. As per the regional staging system, nearby tissues, organs, or lymph nodes have been affected by the cancer. Another staging system is the distant staging system, whereby cancer tends to have spread to distant body parts.
