Oncology nurses and cancer patient survival

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21186147

Oncol Nurs Forum. 2011 Jan 1;38(1):E11-9.
Oncology nurses' perspectives on the state of cancer survivorship care: current practice and barriers to implementation.
Irwin M, Klemp JR, Glennon C, Frazier LM.

Research Department, Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), Pittsburgh, PA.
Abstract
Purpose/Objectives: To describe current survivorship care from the perspectives of oncology nurses.Design: Descriptive.Setting: E-mail invitation to Web-based survey.Sample: 399 Oncology Nursing Society members providing care for patients initially treated more than one year previously.Methods: An online survey was used to evaluate current aspects of survivorship care.Main Research Variables: Practice settings, services provided, and barriers to delivering survivorship care.Findings: Few nurses (27%) worked in settings with a formal survivorship program. Several program components were provided significantly more often in outpatient settings, pediatric facilities, and workplaces with a formal survivorship program. At the transition from acute to follow-up care, the survivorship nursing care provided most often was scheduling for ongoing monitoring (71%) and the least likely was assistance for employment or legal issues (16%). The greatest barriers to providing survivorship care were lack of time and funding (46%). Among nurses new to oncology (fewer than five years), 49% indicated they lacked sufficient knowledge compared to 36% of nurses with more than five years of oncology experience.Conclusions: Findings describe current aspects of survivorship care across practice settings. Nurses reported that the greatest barriers are lack of time, funding, and lack of knowledge about survivorship issues.Implications for Nursing: A need exists for education to enhance knowledge and skills of nurses who will provide survivorship care. Research is warranted to develop empirically supported guidelines and care-delivery models that address the barriers to providing survivorship services.