Several international guidelines include the Breast Care Nurse (BCN) as essential part of multidisciplinary team of breast cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the nursing model of Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) in breast cancer, by knowing the opinion of patients about the level of response of nursing care to patients’ needs.
Descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed. A systematic sample of patients with non-metastatic breast cancer who finished their primary treatment in the ICO Breast Unit <3 years before (2017-2018) were asked to participate by completing the Ipswitch Patient Questionnaire by mail. Previously, the questionnaire was translated and adapted to our context, prior authorization of the team that designed it, and the review of an experienced patient as a pre-test.
301 patients were offered to participate, finally 139 (46.2%) completed the Ipswitch Patient Questionnaire. The most relevant results were those detailed in the table. Patients who answered "right amount" to the questions about the amount of information, and "strongly agree" or "agree" to the questions about the quality of the information and the emotional support to the Ipswitch Patient Questionnaire. (Summary with the highest and lowest percentages of patients).
Right amount (information) How patients rated the help and information offered by the BCN (% and number of patients in the category) Information offered about… % (n) The treatment itself 90.6 (116) Caring for myself at home 96.2 (125) How patients rated the quality of the information and the psychological support provided by the bcn (% and number of patients in the category) Strongly Agree or Agree (quality information & emotional support ) The BCN… % (n) was good at explaining things 99.3 (133) said things that helped me cope or feel a little better about things 97.8 (128) offered sufficient information of where to seek spiritual support 42.4 (59) was open to discuss alternative therapies with me 42.4 (59)
The BCNs of the ICO Breast Unit satisfy most of the information and support needs. However, there are some issues, such as spiritual needs or complementary treatments that the BCN does not address sufficiently. The BCN needs to know the values and preferences of the patient to achieve a holistic approach for each patient, in order to improve the quality of care provided.
The authors.
Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.