The Arabic version of the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL is valid and reliable.
Chemotherapy may cause ovarian toxicity and infertility. Cancer patients are usually overwhelmed, and focus exclusively on cancer diagnosis and may not pay attention to fertility-related issues. In this paper we look at the rate of amenorrhea and fertility counseling among such young patients. Premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer treated with adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy were recruited. Amenorrhea was defined as absence of menstruation for ≥12 months after the completion of chemotherapy. A total of 94 patients met the eligibility criteria and were included in this analysis. Median age at diagnosis was 35.7 (range, 22–44) years. Seventy-nine (85.9%) respondents were counseled about amenorrhea and 37 (40.2%) were considering having children. Long-term amenorrhea was reported by 51 (54.3%) patients. The addition of taxanes to anthracyclines, in 2 different regimens, increased the risk of amenorrhea to 69.2% and 66.7% compared to 38.9% with anthracycline-alone, P < .0001. Longer duration of chemotherapy (≥24 weeks) might also be associated with higher rate of amenorrhea (67.7%) compared to 43.4% in those who had shorter duration (<24 weeks), P = .031. The addition of taxanes to anthracycline-based chemotherapy increased the risk of amenorrhea. However, shorter duration of chemotherapy, even with taxanes, may lower such risk. Our study highlights the importance of fertility counseling to improve fertility preservation rates. Given the importance of taxanes, shorter regimens are associated with lower amenorrhea rates and should be preferred over longer ones.
Background: A newly graduated nurses usually shows uneasiness in communication and dealing with clinical situations. The preceptorship program was created to develop new nurses' competencies. As well as many institutions helped their new nurses by designing a special program to ensure a smooth transition into manpower, the new graduate nurses program help them to acquire competencies which are necessary to practice the job. Aim: this study aimed to identify the nurses’ satisfaction and perception, explore the relationship between nurse experience and nurse satisfaction and measure the relationship between nurse experience and their perceptions toward support, organizing and prioritizing, communication/leadership, and professional satisfaction during the first year of practice in the oncology setting Method: A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The participants consisted of all nurses hired by the hospital from April 2018 to April 2019. Results: A total of 101 new graduates, aged 21 to 40 (m= 24.02, SD= 2.788), responded to the survey (response rate 57%). Overall, the length of the preceptorship programs varies, and it was ranged from 8 to 12 weeks and from 4 to 6 weeks for new graduates who had completed the internship in the hospital; the respondents reported a feeling of confidence and comfort when they were asked to share their experience, 69.3% of respondents had chosen the workload (e.g. organizing, prioritizing, feeling overwhelmed, ratios, patient acuity) considering it the most difficult transition experience. The study showed significant positive relationships between nurses’ experience and their satisfaction (salary, benefits package, Opportunity to work straight days, and Opportunities for career advancement) and significant negative relationships between nurses’ experience and their perception of support factors and professional Satisfaction factor. Conclusion: the results of this study reflect the challenges experienced with fear, stress, and confidence during first year of practice. Considering the new graduate nurse's experience and voice will reflect positively on practice.
Background The role of pharmacists has recently expanded, necessitating enhanced competencies. This requires pharmacists’ participation in continuing education initiatives. This study aims to explore attitudes, motivations, opportunities, and challenges of pharmacists in a country in the middle east, towards continuous professional development. Methods A cross-sectional observational close-ended questions study was conducted in Jordan between September and October 2021, and enrolled 309 pharmacists, the tool was developed by the research team and experts in the field to evaluate the continuous professional development perception among pharmacists. The research was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee in an area hospital and a University. Results The majority of participants had confidence that continuous professional development prepares pharmacists for practical development, believed that it enhances the status of the profession with other health care professionals as well as with the public, and felt confident that it meets their needs (> 98%). Most of the participants agreed that job restrictions (91%) and lack of time (83%) were the major barriers to participation in continuous professional development. The motivation was positively correlated with attitudes (R = 0.551, P < .001). However, barriers were not significantly correlated with either attitudes or motivations. Conclusion Our findings emphasize the positive attitude of pharmacists towards continuous professional development. Identified barriers to continuous professional development participation included job constraints and lack of time. The study highlights the need for policies and procedures that address these issues before the implementation of mandatory continuous professional development programs for pharmacists.
168 Background: Palliative care education and training remains inadequate for medical professionals especially in developing countries. We evaluated the impact of a one month palliative care clinical rotation on medical residents’ attitude, competency, and knowledge related to palliative care in a tertiary cancer center in Jordan. Methods: All transitional Internal Medicine residents rotated in a monthly palliative care rotation at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC), in Amman, Jordan, were requested to participate in this educational intervention study. A concise curriculum in palliative and end of life care, adapted from the Education for Physicians on End-Of-Life Care (EPEC) Curriculum and delivered by our faculty was piloted as a part of the clinical rotation. Residents spent one month in the inpatient palliative care unit, in addition to 10 hours of classroom interactive sessions. The curriculum comprised of five modules: 1- Principles of palliative care, 2- Pain management, 3- Management of distressing symptoms, 4- Communication skills, 5- End-of- life care. To assess our educational outcomes, we adapted a previously developed instruments by David Weisman and used by the National Residency Education in the United States. All Instruments were completed by each resident before and after the rotation, and included self-assessment of attitude, competency and a knowledge test comprising of 32-items of multiple choice questions. Results: Twenty of 27 (74%) residents who started the palliative care rotation completed the required education and had paired evaluations. There was improvement in all three instruments: 37% improvement in competence (p < 0.0001), 17% Improvement in knowledge (p = 0.015), and 5% improvement in attitude (p = 0.02). Conclusions: The one-month mandatory rotation improved knowledge, attitude and competence related to palliative care for medical residents.
Background Health care providers including pharmacists are often on the first line when dealing with COVID -19; they can be under threat of contracting and spreading the disease. We aimed to assess and compare their knowledge of hand sanitization during COVID-19 pandemic to improve quality of care. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jordan, on healthcare providers in different settings from 27 October till 3 December 2020, using a pre-validated electronic questionnaire. Participants (n = 523) were healthcare providers practicing in different settings. Descriptive and association statistical analyses were produced on the data using SPSS 26. Chi square was used for the categorical variables, and One way ANOVA was used on the continuous and categorical variables. Results A significant difference was recorded in total knowledge mean according to gender (59.78 vs 61.79 p = 0.030) in favor of men, and between pharmacists and other healthcare providers in favor of the latter (59.22 vs 61.45, p = 0.02). No significant difference was generally noticed between those who attended hand hygiene training and those who did not. Conclusion Healthcare providers’ knowledge of hand hygiene was generally good among participants, regardless of training and it was possibly increased because of fear of COVID-19 infection. Physicians were the most knowledgeable in regard of hand hygiene while pharmacists were the least among healthcare providers. Thus, structured, more frequent, and tailored training on hand sanitization in addition to new educational strategies are recommended for healthcare providers, in particular, pharmacists for better quality of care especially in pandemics.
Background: Since the discovery of breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 & BRCA2 and the availability of genetic testing, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to evaluate rates of genetic test acceptance and to understand the psychological and behavioural impact of genetic test results on both patients and their family members. This study aims to explore the experience of women who tested positive for a cancer-predisposing gene, and to identify risk reduction interventions patients had or planning to have and study if patients communicated genetic test results with at-risk family members and intervention made by the family members. Methods: A questionnaire was designed to assess socio-demographic factors, personal and family history of cancer, genetic test results and family notification of testing, and subsequent testing in relatives. Participants were invited to participate in the study during their visit to their oncologist clinic, in addition to patients that were invited via Teleclinic using different meeting platforms. Results: Ninety-nine patients with the pathogenic BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutations, who were diagnosed with breast cancer between the years 2005 and 2020, were enrolled in the study. The Mean age of participants was 45 years (range from 27 to 77 years). The patients reported different emotional reactions to the positive results of cancer genetic testing; 39 (39%) experienced feelings of anxiety, 69 (69%) were afraid about the risk of their children carrying the disease. While 24 (24%) of participants reported they felt comforted because they can take preventive measures for them and their family members and only 5 (5%) were worried about health insurance coverage. Thirteen (13%) of the patients reported that their social status had been affected by the genetic testing results. The majority (n=74, 74%) believed in the importance of communicating the results with their families. Ninety-eight (98%) patients have informed their family members of the results and only 1 (1%) did not inform anyone of the results. In total, 922 relatives were informed of the results of genetic testing and only 31 (3.3%) underwent genetic testing in response. A total of 379 first degree female relatives (mother, sister, and daughter) were informed about the genetic testing results and only 24 (6.6%) underwent genetic testing for BRCA mutations and only 8 (2%) patients underwent a prophylactic mastectomy. The reasons that prevented the informed family members from undergoing the genetic testing were diverse. As reported by the patients participating in the study, the cost of testing was the most reported reason in 54% of the time. And 52 patients (52%) considered fear from having a positive test as the main reason. The social stigma of carrying a cancer gene was also a factor in 16% of cases. Conclusion: Despite the high rate of communicating BRCA results with family members, there is lack of awareness of the proper preventive measures to be followed to decrease the risk of breast cancer. Citation Format: Rawan Mustafa, Khawla Ammar, Rana Damsees, Maryam El-Atrash, Rayan Bater, Sama Almasri, Faris Tamimi, Lama Abujamous, Hikmat Abdel-Razeq. Family communication and attitude of patients with breast cancer toward positive pathogenic BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. A regional perspective [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-09-17.
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