ESSAY: cancer and approach to care based on the utilization of the nursing process

The nursing process is a tool that puts knowledge into practice. By utilizing this systematic problem-solving method, nurses can determine the health care needs of an individual and provide personalized care.

Write a paper (1,750-2,000 words) on cancer and approach to care based on the utilization of the nursing process. Include the following in your paper:

Describe the diagnosis and staging of cancer.
Describe at least three complications of cancer, the side effects of treatment, and methods to lessen physical and psychological effects.
Discuss what factors contribute to the yearly incidence and mortality rates of various cancers in Americans.
Explain how the American Cancer Society (ACS) might provide education and support. What ACS services would you recommend and why?
Explain how the nursing process is utilized to provide safe and effective care for cancer patients across the life span. Your explanation should include each of the five phases and demonstrate the delivery of holistic and patient-focused care.
Discuss how undergraduate education in liberal arts and science studies contributes to the foundation of nursing knowledge and prepares nurses to work with patients utilizing the nursing process. Consider mathematics, social and physical sciences, and science studies as an interdisciplinary research area.
You are required to cite to a minimum of four sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

ANSWER

Cancer Diagnosing and Staging
Often, when a physician suspects cancer, they do some form of imaging exams such as x-rays, or computed tomography (CT). For instance, a patient with chronic headaches and loss of vision may undergo a brain CT. Even though such tests may locate, and show size of abnormal masses, they cannot definitively confirm that the cause is cancer. To this effect, the physician confirms cancer through a biopsy (Ankeny et al., 2016). The doctor does the biopsy by collecting a piece of the mass through surgery or needle and finding cancerous cells. In cases such as leukemia, the doctor may perform a blood exam. The doctor uses ultrasonography for guidance and local anaesthetic for the pain. After the results indicate the presence of cancer, the doctor measures the blood for tumour markers. Tumour markers are substances that some cancers emit into the bloodstream. They give additional proof and may be useful in checking treatment effectiveness and the probability of recurrence. Some tumour markers are not measurable through blood but by examining tissue from the biopsy, for example, EGFR and HER2 markers (Ankeny et al., 2016).
After the diagnosis of cancer, the doctor performs staging tests to assess the extent of the disease concerning size, location, spread to other sectors, and growth into neighboring cells (Ankeny et al., 2016). Staging allows physicians to determine a prognosis along with the proper treatment methods. Staging uses methods such as MRIs, x-rays, CTs, or positron emission tomography (PET) (Ankeny et al., 2016). Doctors choose the staging tests depending on the cancer type. A CT detects tumours on many body parts such as lungs, abdomen parts, brain, lymph nodes, spleen, adrenal glands, and liver. Physicians use MRIs particularly for specific cancers such as spinal cord, brain, and bones. Often, doctors may require biopsies during staging which they may obtain during the initial cancer treatment such as an operation for colon cancer, the doctors may remove nearby lymph nodes to check cancer spread (Ankeny et al., 2016). When doctors conduct staging from initial physical exams, biopsy results, or imaging, that stage is clinical. When it is from additional biopsies or surgical procedures then it is surgical or pathological. The stages of cancer start from stage 0 progressing up to stage IV where the last is the most extreme since it has reached other body parts like lymph nodes.
Complications, Side Effects of Treatment, and Pain Lessening Methods
Various complications result from cancer and are either structural or metabolic. Examples of metabolic complications include hypercalcemia, tumour lysis syndrome, and anaphylaxis (Maddocks et al., 2016). Structural complications include cardiac tamponade, spinal cord compression, and increased intracranial pressure.
The spinal cord compression happens in 2.5-6% of cancer patients (Guimaraes et al., 2014). This complication requires early diagnosis to prevent other problems like paralysis or losing control of the bladder. If there are any delays, the diagnosis may become permanent. Back pains are usually the earliest and common symptoms, which occur in 90% of the patients (Guimaraes et al., 2014). Other symptoms include sensory losses, dysfunction of the intestine or urinary bladder, motor weakness, and radicular pain. This complication mainly affects the vertebral column in 70% of the cases (Guimaraes et al., 2014). The use of MRI is the standard diagnosis of spinal cord compressions.
Intracranial hypertension, on the other hand, refers to a severe mental complication in cancer patients. The cause of the complication is intraparenchymal metastases. Melanoma, lung, and breast cancer are some of the malignant tumours that…