AJN’s Recent Breast Cancer Articles: From Screening to Late Treatment Effects

Image via Flickr / Ted Fu

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a time when we hear and read much about breast cancer statistics, the importance of screening, and the stories of those affected by the disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States; an estimated 12% of women will face a diagnosis during their lifetimes.

In recognition of this month, we’re sharing a list of some of our most recent articles on the topic, which cover the latest in screening guidelines, treatments and treatment effects, and more:

All of these articles are free to access this month.

2018-10-15T09:16:13-04:00October 15th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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Holding Space for Integrative Medicine in Oncology Care

When the patient distrusts the treatment.

Explaining why chemotherapy is indicated for their treatment to a newly diagnosed cancer patient is part of a day’s work for oncology nurses and physicians. Oncology nurse navigators are no exception—I am relied upon to reinforce patient education and answer questions.

While many patients come to us with the attitude “I’ll do whatever you say, let’s fight this cancer!” others present with a deep distrust of health care. Some of their distrust is justified, a result of corporate greed, Big Pharma, and federal regulations, coupled with misunderstandings of the treatment approval process of insurance companies. Depending on the intensity of these patient conversations, it sometimes feels as if we, the oncology team, are under attack, when it is our intent to help.

Despite good health habits, a cancer diagnosis.

Held / Julianna Paradisi / colored pencil and ink on watercolor paper 2018 – adapted from image author drew during cancer treatment

I was a pediatric intensive care nurse when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My oncology experience was limited to monitoring young patients with a high risk of tumor lysis syndrome during induction of chemotherapy. The actual chemotherapy was administered by pediatric oncology–certified nurses who knew how to keep the […]

2018-07-02T13:26:59-04:00July 2nd, 2018|Nursing, nursing roles, patient experience, Patients|3 Comments
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The Invisible Nature of Grief

Most nurses know the stages of grief by heart: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. We know the stages do not occur in an orderly, linear fashion. People flow in and out of each stage, circling back around to earlier stages as needed.

But I’m not aware of anyone discussing the invisible, insulating environment grief surrounds its survivors within. An acquaintance described it like this:

“We had just taken our son off of life-support, and sat with him as he passed. Our entire family had gathered to say goodbye. After leaving the hospital, we went to eat. I sat in the café, marveling at the world outside, that people were going about their daily lives, and I had just lost my son.”

When grieving periods were the norm.

collage by julianna paradisi/2018

A cultural understanding of this phenomena developed during the Victorian era, and still exists in period romance novels: People of means, after suffering the loss of a loved one or recovering from traumatic illness or injury, were sent to live with relatives in the country or at the seaside. There, they had no household responsibilities beyond taking long walks through the forest or along the shore, keeping journals, or sketching. In romance novels, the grieving heroine gets the added bonus of discovering a Fabio-like love to […]

2018-04-09T18:43:00-04:00April 9th, 2018|family, family experience, Nursing, Patients|0 Comments
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Comforting Our Patients: The Importance of Well-Chosen Words

‘What I Said,’ ink and crayon on paper, Julianna Paradisi 2018

Nurses and writers understand the importance of well-chosen words. Precision of language is important for both. But nurses learn the emotional impact of words, wisely or poorly chosen, on the job, directly from our patients. There’s seldom an opportunity to edit or revise on the floor of a nursing unit. Words cannot be unsaid.

As an oncology nurse navigator, my nursing practice is almost entirely based on words. My stethoscope, which rarely left my body when I was a PICU nurse, now rests coiled like a snake in a basket, nestled among the art supplies I used to illustrate this post.

Since patients rate my nursing skills by my words, the ability to pass the ‘bs test’ is more important than ever before in my career. As a navigator, I have impressed a patient or two (and helped them get proper care) by recognizing over the phone that the symptoms they described were cardiac related and not the side effects of cancer treatment. But for the most part, words are the tool I rely on to prove my value.

It’s the nature of nurses to want to comfort our […]

2018-01-09T10:09:34-05:00January 9th, 2018|Nursing, nursing roles, patient experience|1 Comment
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How Long Should Routine Health Screening Continue in Older Adults?

Photo by Johner Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Communicating to older patients that routine screening tests are no longer recommended can prove difficult. Recent research, however, offers guidance on how nurses and other clinicians should approach such conversations.

As we report in a September news article, a study focused on cancer screening found that older adults unlikely to benefit from certain tests were receptive to recommendations to stop screening, with a caveat: they preferred that life expectancy not be a part of the conversation.

The study’s accompanying editorial notes that broaching the topic of life expectancy can turn a discussion about maintaining health into an unexpected discussion about the end of life, which “may be a shock in the primary care setting at a routine visit.” The authors of the study recommend changing the language used in these conversations—for example, saying “This test would not help you live longer” instead of referring to “life expectancy.” […]

2017-09-06T09:21:09-04:00September 6th, 2017|Nursing, patient engagement|1 Comment
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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