Simple Intervention Decreases Oral Mucositis from Head and Neck Cancer Treatment
A painful effect of cancer treatment.
Nurse Cindy Dawson provides patient education on oral care kit used in a nurse-led intervention to reduce oral mucositis severity in adults treated for head and neck cancer. Photo courtesy of Kay Klein.
Years ago, when I worked with patients being treated for head and neck cancer who had been admitted for one reason or another, I felt helpless in the face of their extremely uncomfortable oral mucositis. None of our topical concoctions seemed to bring much relief to these patients, who had often endured disfiguring surgery as well.
While there is as yet no perfect solution to this uncomfortable side effect from the radiation or chemotherapy used to treat head and neck cancers, a group of oncology staff nurses and their colleagues have demonstrated that a consistent, standardized approach to oral care for these patients may significantly alleviate the pain of this almost universal treatment effect.
Consistent, standardized oral care.
After reviewing the literature on oral care, Cullen and colleagues enhanced their usual patient teaching with […]
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