Importance of Communication and the Provision of Information in Patient Care, The

Chapter 3: The Importance of Communication and the Provision of Information in Patient Care

Overview:

• Describes the varying patient needs a nurse should be aware of
• Guidelines on how a nurse can meet individual needs while also meeting guidelines and protocols
• Explanation of the differing stages cancer: from the explanation, to the end of treatment
• Advice is given on how to approach different questions the patient might have during the treatment stage and how to react if the cancer reoccurs or goes into remission
• Explanation of the terminal phase of cancer
• Guidelines on making the most of the multidisciplinary team
• Lists and explains the various specialized nurse counseling roles

Description:

This chapter, in reviewing the importance of communication and information in the provision of patient care, also demonstrates the importance of the nurse’s role in such provision. It emphasises the opinion that the value of the nurse-patient relationship can never be over estimated and, as a source of information and support, the nurse is irreplaceable.

Topics:

• Different patient needs a nurse should be aware of
• How can a nurse meet individual needs?
• Guidelines and protocols
• Diagnosis
• Setting the scene
• At the start and during active treatment
• Clinical trials
• Remission and recurrence
• Signs to be aware of
• The terminal phase
• Making the most of the multi-disciplinary team
• Specialised nurse counselling roles
• References

Speaker / Author:

Doreen Akkerman
Bachelor of Science, Helen M. Schutt Trust Fellow*, Director Cancer Information and Support Service, and Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, Australia.

Doreen has more than 25 years experience in community and professional education, and has worked as a Senior Research Associate in Oregon in the USA, and as Director of the Cancer Information and Support Service (CISS) in Victoria. She has supervised CISS in Victoria since January 1990, designing and developing the model which, in 1994, was voted the Australian model for cancer information and support. Doreen led the Cancer Information Service Short Course at the World Conference for Cancer Organisations in Melbourne in March 1996 and, together with Christy Thomsen from the National Cancer Institute, USA, and Catherine Dickens, from BACUP in the United Kingdom, established the International Cancer Information Service Group under the auspices of the International Union against Cancer (UICC). Doreen is committed to establishing information and support services and to the exchange of skills, information and tools in order to provide units of excellence which may assist in decreasing the impact of cancer on people’s lives.

* The Helen M. Schutt Trust is an Investors Philanthropic Trust set up in Victoria, to assist with health provision. Doreen received a $250,000 scholarship from the Trust to help with CISS (Victoria).

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