Nurse Led Interventions for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

Background: Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) have complex physical and psychosocial needs due to their illness and its therapy. Nurse led interventions could play an important role in these patients and their families care. Aim: Systematic review of nurse led interventions in patients with HNC. Method: A critical review of research articles was made, using the electronic databases Medline, Cochrane and HEAL-Link, and the Google Scholar with the key words: “nurse led care”, “nurse led interventions”, “head and neck cancer”. The inclusion criteria were the English language, focus on nurse led interventions in patients with HNC and conduct of investigation in adult patients (>18 years old). The sample was finally 8 primary research articles. Results: The data analysis showed that the most frequent nurse led interventions aimed at alcohol halting and smoking cessation, reducing depressive symptoms, meeting information needs, improving adherence to radiation therapy, assessment of trismus and improving quality of life. The 50% of studies reported benefits to patient’s results after nurse led interventions application. Conclusions: Nurse led interventions seems to have positive effect on HNC patients care. Nurses targeted education and further conduction of multicenter studies will contribute to the improvement of the patient’s quality of life.