Nursing Process: Approach to Care
Nursing Process: Cancer and Approach to Care
Introduction
In 1958, Ida Orlando instituted the nursing process to offer guidance to nursing care, a process which is still applied today. The nursing process can be defined as a methodical approach based on the significant doctrines of critical thinking, goal-focused tasks, client-focused treatment methods, intuition, and recommendations for evidence-based nursing practice (Karttunen, et al., 2020). The nursing process is a viable tool that applies nursing knowledge into clinical practice. Besides, all-inclusive and scientific claims are incorporated to offer the basis for delivery of quality and compassionate care. By applying the systematic problem-solving approach, a nurse can establish an individual’s care needs and deliver personalized care. This paper utilizes the nursing process in offering client-centered healthcare to cancer patients by detailing the suitable approach to care. The report presents the cancer diagnosis, staging, three main oncological complications, side effects of treatments, and methods for alleviation of both mental and physical side effects.
Cancer: The Diagnosis & Staging
Diagnosis
Cancer is defined as the uninhibited growth of abnormal cells, known as cancer, malignant, or tumor cells that infiltrate the normal body tissues anywhere in the body. There are more than 200 kinds of cancer, and the general classes of causative agents include the toxic or chemical compound exposures, pathogens, human genetics, and ionizing radiation (Leslie, 2018). There are numerous techniques applied in the diagnosis of cancer. With the latest technological advances, there has been a surge in diagnostic tools that help detect cancers. Once suspected, the cancer diagnosis is made by imaging radiologists, oncopathologists, and pathologists. Some types of cancers are diagnosed in routine screening exams. Most cancers are detected when a patient presents to your healthcare professionals with specific symptoms.
A physical examination and patient medical history, history of symptoms, are considered the first steps in diagnosis. The nurse can order several tests, the majority of which are determined by the kind of cancer and suspected location in the body. The tests localize abnormalities that offer presumptive evidence for cancer diagnosis (Leslie, 2018). The nurse may request electrolyte level tests, complete blood counts, and other lab blood studies to obtain supplementary diagnostic data. Imaging studies such as ultrasounds, X-rays, MRI, and CT scans are used to aid the physicians in detecting abnormalities that might be cancer….End of Preview….