Prevention and treatment of mucositis at an oncology outpatient clinic: A collective construction

Abstract

The aim was to develop a nursing care protocol for the prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced mucositis at an outpatient clinic of a High Complexity Center in Oncology. A qualitative convergent-care research was undertaken. The construction of the protocol was driven by the criteria of Evidence-Based Practice. Data were collected from January to June 2013 in two steps. Firstly, we collected data on medical charts of customers to obtain sociodemographic and therapeutic data and nursing interventions performed for prevention, detection and treatment of mucositis. After this first step, workshops were held with the nurses to validate the available material and human resources, besides the feasible care to compose the protocol. Care was related to oral hygiene, mouth rinse, cryotherapy, laser therapy and interventions related to the nutritional scope. The implementation of this care protocol has standardized the care strategies.