Performance Of Nurses In Radiotherapy Services

Abstract

Background: Because it is a complex disease, cancer requires a comprehensive approach in treatment, since tumor cells tend to be very aggressive and uncontrollable. In order to obtain cure or improvement in the standard of living of the cancer patient, different therapeutic modalities are available, among them, radiotherapy, which has improved the prognosis of many neoplasms.Objective: This study aimed to know the performance of nurses in radiotherapy services. Methods and Results:It is a cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study with a quantitative approach, developed from June to July 2015. The study sample was composed of eight nurses. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire, analyzed through descriptive statistics. It was verified that nurses are not only restricted to care, buy they work in the supervision of the nursing team, monitor the work process, elaborate the action plan, select materials and equipment, schedule the consultations. In addition, it was possible to observe the importance of the nursing consultation for the individualization of the care and effectiveness of the treatment for the patient. Conclusion:It is observed that for a good progress of the radiotherapy service, there is a need for a trained nursing team with conditions to deal with the complexity and requirements that this modality of treatment demands. Performance of Nurses in Radiotherapy Services ORIGINAL Nauã IntroductionAccording to estimates, more than 12 million cases of cancer are diagnosed annually worldwide, causing more than seven million deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that, 27 million incident cases and about 17 million deaths from this disease are expected in the year 2030 [1]. It is a major cause of mortality, being a major public health problem. In Brazil, estimates for 2016/2017 point to the occurrence of 600 thousand new cases of cancer [2].Because it is a complex disease, cancer requires a comprehensive approach in treatment, since tumor cells tend to be very aggressive and uncontrollable [3]. In order to obtain cure or improvement in the standard of living of the cancer patient, different therapeutic modalities are available, among them, radiotherapy, which has improved the prognosis of many neoplasms. It uses electromagnetic or corpuscular ionizing energy, generating interaction in neoplastic cells. According to data, it is believed that about 50% of individuals with cancer may at some point use radiotherapy at some stage of treatment [4,5].Radiation therapy is defined as a treatment modality that employs a beam of ionizing radiation appropriate to destroy tumor cells by acting on its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), with the least acceptable change to surrounding normal cells. Used as a local therapeutic method for cancer, it is indicated exclusively or associated with other types of treatment, such as chemotherapy and surgery; it can be curative, prophylactic, palliative or ablative [5,6].Although it fits as an effective treatment, radiotherapy brings cer...