Nursing students' perspectives on assisting cancer patients

14Citations
Citations of this article
68Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the experiences of student nurses who have provided care to cancer patients. Methods: A mixed method approach consisting of semistructured focus groups (n = 61) and a survey questionnaire (n = 129) was used in the study. Student nurses were first interviewed, and then, a questionnaire was developed for them to answer. Following the content analysis, three themes and 19 subthemes were identified. Frequency and percent were used for qualitative data. Results: Among the student nurses, 80.6% reported that working with cancer patients was 'difficult.' Difficulties experienced by the student nurses included patients rejecting their care, a large number of problems cases encountered when providing care to cancer patients, communication problems (38.0%), working with patients and attendants who fear death, and problems arising from family attendants who obstruct care. The majority of students experienced patients fearing death (28.7%) and felt feelings such as pity (71.1%), sadness (50.0%), and fear of cancer (41.9%) during their internships in oncology clinics. Conclusions: Students should be supported by instructors and oncology nurses, and nursing curricula should contain topics on how to best approach cancer patients.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Kapucu, S., & Bulut, H. (2018). Nursing students’ perspectives on assisting cancer patients. Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing, 5(1), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.4103/apjon.apjon_44_17

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free