Perspectives on Cancer Care

Perspectives on Cancer Care is a unique collection of insights from contributors, based on their specific expertise and experience. It provides a range of perspectives on cancer care that can inspire the reader and encourage high quality care through an enhanced understanding of the patients′ needs and the carers′ skills.

Perspectives on Cancer Care presents a series of chapters highlighting different circumstances and approaches to the complex reality of cancer care. In each chapter the author presents their own picture of their experience of the individual′s needs and the care required to address these needs, illustrating the particular sensitivity, trust, empathy and support required in the care of patients with cancer and their families. The holistic approach to total care is a prominent feature in cancer care and this is illustrated througout the various chapters.

This collection of persectives on cancer care:

highlights particular issues in the field encourages ′best practice′ draws on the expertise of specialist practitioners in the field of cancer care features a holistic approach to cancer care, illustrated through scenarios

Contributors.

Foreword (Professor Roger Watson).

Acknowledgements.

Introduction (Tonks N. Fawcett and Anne McQueen).

1 Cancer: a journey of discovery (Tonks N. Fawcett).

Cancer.

Cancer as a journey.

The treatment journey.

Life after treatment.

The cancer care journey: then and now.

Cancer journeys: stories and narratives.

Reflections on the journeys.

2 Integrating cancer genetics into healthcare (Roseanne Cetnarskyj).

The relevance of genetics to the nurse′s practice.

Identifying individuals with or at risk of genetic conditions.

Gathering multi–generational family history information.

Using family history information to draw a pedigree.

Recognising a mode of inheritance in a family.

Assessing genetic risk.

Referring individuals to specialist sources.

Genetic laboratory testing.

Communicating with individuals, families and healthcare staff.

Rare cancer syndromes.

Conclusion.

3 ′Being with woman′: the care of the childbearing woman with cancer (Rosemary Mander).

Significance of cancer in childbearing.

Interaction of the cancer with the pregnancy and childbirth.

Cancer, childbearing and conflicts of interest.

Implications for the midwife and other staff.

Support for the childbearing woman with cancer and her family.

Conclusion.

4 Mucositis and the development of a new instrument for the measurement of oral mucositis in children (Deborah Tomlinson and Lillian Sung).

Pathophysiology of oral mucositis.

Measuring oral mucositis in adults.

Measuring oral mucositis in children.

Development of children′s international mucositis evaluation scale.

Conclusion.

5 Facing the challenges of primary malignant brain tumours (Shanne McNamara).

Incidence.

Origins and classification.

Aetiology.

Clinical manifestations of primary malignant brain tumours.

Prognosis.

Impact of diagnosis on the patient and their family.

Diagnostic investigations.

Treatment.

Medical management.

Palliative care.

A multidisciplinary approach.

The future.

6 Cancer and the surgeon (Ashley Brown).

Becoming a cancer surgeon.

Surgery as a treatment regime for cancer.

Principles of cancer surgery.

The surgeon and the patient newly diagnosed with cancer.

The multidisciplinary team.

Recovering from cancer surgery.

The surgeon and the clinical nurse specialist.

The joys and heartaches of a cancer surgeon.

Conclusion.

7 Cancer pain (Papiya B. Russell and Anil Tandon).

The concept of total pain.

Assessment and management of emotional, psychological or spiritual pain.

Assessment and management of pain.

The use of adjuvant analgesics.

The specific challenge of neuropathic pain.

Other pain–relieving measures.

Relieving pain at the end of life.

Conclusion.

8 Cancer–related fatigue (Antonia Dean).

Definitions of cancer–related fatigue.

The experience of cancer–related fatigue.

Assessing and measuring cancer–related fatigue.

Causes and mediators of cancer–related fatigue.

Management of cancer–related fatigue.

Discussion.

Conclusion.

9 The clinical research nurse in cancer clinical trials (Patricia B. Campbell).

Preparation of research nurses.

Phases of clinical trials in cancer care.

The nurse patient relationship in cancer clinical trials.

Conclusion.

10 Emotional work of caring in cancer nursing (Anne McQueen).

Caring.

Emotional work.

Emotional intelligence.

Caring in cancer nursing.

Conclusion.

11 The management of rectal cancer and the consequences of treatment (Gillian Knowles and Rachel Haigh).

Incidence, risk factors and aetiology.

Presenting features, diagnosis and staging.

Management and treatment.

Self–care and supportive interventions.

Conclusion.

12 Sustaining hope in people with cancer: developments in palliative and end–of–life care (Margaret Colquhoun and Vicky Hill).

The nature of hope.

Models and frameworks.

The Gold Standards Framework.

Person–centred care.

Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient.

Models, frameworks and hope.

Conclusion.

Conclusion (Tonks N. Fawcett and Anne McQueen).

Index.

Colour plate section.

Josephine (Tonks) N Fawcett is Senior Lecturer and Anne McQueen is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh

"This is a well–written book with practical information backed up by evidence on contemporary issues relating to cancer nursing. It is a resource that clinical nurses will identify with and appreciated." (Nursing Standard, 1 February 2012)

"Perspectives on Cancer Care has been written to support undergraduate and postgraduate nurses. The chapter on the management of cancer pain will be particularly useful for all nurses caring for patients in hospitals and receiving care in the community." (Nursing Times.net, 1 December 2011)

"This book is likely to find a place in libraries and individual chapters may be useful to support course work . . . The use of case studies is a welcome illustration". (Cancer Nursing Practice, 1 June 2011)