The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer during chemotherapy and to identify the incidence of nausea and vomiting during the treatment Data were assessed with the application of the instrument of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, EORTC-QLQ-C30 Portuguese version and breast cancer module BR-23, which was applied before, in the middle and in the end of the treatment. The participants were 79 women, of which 93% had nausea and 87% had vomited at least once during the treatment. QoL showed a slight decrease during treatment. Cronbach's alpha for each application of the questionnaires was 0.890492, 0.936392 and 0.937639. The availability of treatment information and guidelines on the management of nausea and vomiting is crucial for the proper management of the toxicities of chemotherapy.

The objective of this study was to analyze the incidence of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in women with breast cancer and identify strategies used by them to control these signs and symptoms. Data for this cross-sectional study were collected through interviews during the last cycle of chemotherapy, between August 2011 and March 2012, in a university hospital in the State of São Paulo. The sample consisted of 22 women between the ages of 31 and 70, of whom 77.3% reported nausea and 50% vomiting during treatment. Regarding symptom management, 82% of the women reported having received some information centered on the use of prescribed medication. However, 27.3% did not know what medication they had taken. We concluded that there is a lack of systematic care and institutional protocol to guide professionals in providing standardized information to women so they can better control nausea and vomiting.

RESUMO Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar o conhecimento dos profissionais da equipe de enfermagem acerca dos eventos adversos decorrentes do tratamento quimioterápico. Estudo descritivo e transversal realizado entre março e maio de 2013 com 28 profissionais da equipe de enfermagem que trabalham no Ambulatório, na Unidade de Internação e na Central de Quimioterapia de um hospital universitário. Para a coleta dos dados foi utilizado um instrumento elaborado pelas autoras e validado por enfermeiras especialistas na área. Entre os participantes, 82,1% não possuem nenhum tipo de especialização na área de oncologia. As profissionais apresentaram dificuldades em classificar os eventos adversos em relação ao tempo de aparecimento, bem como ao manejo dos mesmos. Os eventos adversos relatados coincidem com os mais evidenciados na prática clínica. Diante da complexidade do tratamento quimioterápico, torna-se indiscutível a necessidade de capacitação dos profissionais de saúde que atuam na área quando consideramos uma prática assistencial em oncologia de qualidade.

Objective: to identify factors related to the nursing diagnosis nausea among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Method: integrative review conducted in four electronic databases (PUBMED, EMBASE, CINAHL and LILACS) using the key words: neoplasia, antineoplastic agents and nausea. Results: only 30 out of 1,258 papers identified met the inclusion criteria. The most frequent related factors were: being younger than 50 years old, motion sickness, being a woman, emetogenic potential of the chemotherapy, anxiety, conditioned stimulus, and expecting nausea after treatment. Conclusion: this review's findings, coupled with the incidence of nausea among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, reveal an important difference between evidence found and that used by NANDA International, Inc. Even though it provides an appropriate definition of related factors, it does not mention chemotherapy, despite the various studies addressing the topic using different designs and presenting various objectives and outcomes.