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Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care

BACKGROUND: Specialist nurses may play an important role in helping to improve the experiences of patients with prostate cancer, however there is concern that the specialist nurse role is under threat in the UK due to financial pressures in the NHS. This study explored the role and value of speciali...

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Autores principales: Tarrant, Carolyn, Sinfield, Paul, Agarwal, Shona, Baker, Richard
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2294119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18371192
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-65
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author Tarrant, Carolyn
Sinfield, Paul
Agarwal, Shona
Baker, Richard
author_facet Tarrant, Carolyn
Sinfield, Paul
Agarwal, Shona
Baker, Richard
author_sort Tarrant, Carolyn
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Specialist nurses may play an important role in helping to improve the experiences of patients with prostate cancer, however there is concern that the specialist nurse role is under threat in the UK due to financial pressures in the NHS. This study explored the role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care via a survey and patient interviews. METHODS: This paper reports findings from two studies. A survey of patients from three hospitals across the UK (289/481, 60%), investigated whether patients who saw a specialist nurse had different experiences of information provision and involvement in decision-making, to those who did not. Qualitative interviews were also carried out with 35 men recently tested or treated for prostate cancer, recruited from two hospitals in the UK. Interviews explored patients' views on the role and value of the specialist nurse. RESULTS: Survey findings indicated that patients who saw a specialist nurse had more positive experiences of receiving written information about tests and treatment, and about sources of advice and support, and were more likely to say they made the treatment decision themselves. In interviews, patients described specialist nurse input in their care in terms of providing information and support immediately post-diagnosis, as well as being involved in ongoing care. Two key aspects of the specialist nurse role were seen as unique: their availability to the patient, and their ability to liaise between the patient and the medical system. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the unique role that specialist nurses play in the experience of patients with prostate cancer, and highlights the importance of maintaining specialist nurse roles in prostate cancer care.
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spelling pubmed-22941192008-04-15 Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care Tarrant, Carolyn Sinfield, Paul Agarwal, Shona Baker, Richard BMC Health Serv Res Research Article BACKGROUND: Specialist nurses may play an important role in helping to improve the experiences of patients with prostate cancer, however there is concern that the specialist nurse role is under threat in the UK due to financial pressures in the NHS. This study explored the role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care via a survey and patient interviews. METHODS: This paper reports findings from two studies. A survey of patients from three hospitals across the UK (289/481, 60%), investigated whether patients who saw a specialist nurse had different experiences of information provision and involvement in decision-making, to those who did not. Qualitative interviews were also carried out with 35 men recently tested or treated for prostate cancer, recruited from two hospitals in the UK. Interviews explored patients' views on the role and value of the specialist nurse. RESULTS: Survey findings indicated that patients who saw a specialist nurse had more positive experiences of receiving written information about tests and treatment, and about sources of advice and support, and were more likely to say they made the treatment decision themselves. In interviews, patients described specialist nurse input in their care in terms of providing information and support immediately post-diagnosis, as well as being involved in ongoing care. Two key aspects of the specialist nurse role were seen as unique: their availability to the patient, and their ability to liaise between the patient and the medical system. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the unique role that specialist nurses play in the experience of patients with prostate cancer, and highlights the importance of maintaining specialist nurse roles in prostate cancer care. BioMed Central 2008-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC2294119/ /pubmed/18371192 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-65 Text en Copyright © 2008 Tarrant et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tarrant, Carolyn
Sinfield, Paul
Agarwal, Shona
Baker, Richard
Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title_full Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title_fullStr Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title_full_unstemmed Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title_short Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
title_sort is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? the role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2294119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18371192
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-65
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