With an ever growing population of cancer survivors in Australia, the education of community nurses in recognising the challenges and potential health care concerns is paramount. Community nurses are an integral part of the team likely to be involved in the provision of health care in the years following treatment for cancer.
Aims
To develop, deliver and evaluate an education program on cancer survivorship for nurses working in the community setting.
Methods
The program was designed as a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. The presentation included audio visual content, oral presentation and a case study to consolidate understanding of the information provided. It was delivered at a community nurse education forum.
Results
22 out of the 29 attendees completed a pre-education questionnaire. Results clearly indicate that knowledge of survivorship issues post treatment for cancer are not well known amongst generalist community nurses. Most nurses described themselves as having a fair to reasonable awareness of the physical and psychological side effects of treatment for cancer (72.27%, N = 17). However, their awareness of the aims of survivorship care and what should be included in a survivorship care plan (SCP) is much lower, just 4 nurses identified a reasonable or very good awareness of this (18.84%). Awareness of available resources for consumers and health care practitioners (HCP) was also very low, with only 2 nurses knowing where to access HCP resources.
19 out of 29 attendees returned a post education questionnaire. Both awareness and confidence were higher on every individual question. In all questions relating to awareness of cancer survivorship, more than 94% (N = 18) of attendees stated they had a reasonable, very good or excellent awareness of key survivorship concepts. Over 84%, (N = 16), now rated their confidence levels in supporting a cancer survivor as reasonable, very good or excellent.
Conclusion
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an education program on cancer survivorship to nurses working in the community. It is the first step in developing patient centred and evidence based SCPs for survivors in our local health district. Continued education with links to the latest evidence as it emerges, will guide focus groups of key stakeholders in the development of a SCP that is relevant and useful to all involved.