The most common nursing diagnosis among adults/seniors hospitalised with cancer: integrative review

The nursing process, with emphasis on the diagnosis phase, is essential to oncology hospital services due to a high frequency of physical and psychological problems that compromise the quality of life of patients undergoing cancer treatment. The goal of this study was to identify, according to NANDA International, the most common nursing diagnosis among adults/seniors with cancer who are hospitalised. This study is an integrative review of the literature completed in 2013 using five electronic databases, resulting in the selection and analysis of nine articles. This review identified the following eight actual diagnoses and two risk diagnoses that are more common among hospitalised adults/seniors with cancer: anxiety, deficient knowledge, constipation, self-care deficit for bathing/hygiene, body image disturbance, acute/chronic pain, fear, disturbed sleep pattern, risk of infection, and risk of deficient fluid volume. The heterogeneity of the studies used in this review may not have allowed the identification of all the common nursing diagnoses in the practice of oncology nursing in hospitals. However, even though the results are not based on the highest possible level of scientific evidence, their correlation to clinical practice can contribute to the enhancement of the nursing process in oncology services provided by hospitals.