Home Care by Special Nurses Benefits Cancer Patients

A four-year study has shown that home care by specially trained registered nurses increased the survival of elderly cancer patients by seven months. Conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Philadelphia, PA, USA), the results were published in the December issue of the Journal of the American School of Nursing.

The study involved 375 cancer patients newly discharged from the hospital after cancer surgery. Some patients received standard care while an experimental group received three home visits and five telephone contacts with an advanced practice nurse, who also educated family members about caregiving. Advanced practice nurses can conduct physical examinations and prescribe medication. According to the researchers, the findings were significant because the patients who received the special nursing care tended to be in later stages of their cancer than the group receiving standard care.

The study focused on elderly patients, who are more likely to experience postoperative complications. This problem is worsened by a trend to discharge patients rapidly after surgery. Interventions by an advanced practice nurse served to avert or address complications rapidly. In contrast, some patients in the standard care group died prematurely from surgical complications, such as infections. The authors speculate that survival may also have been enhanced in the experimental group by the psychosocial support that nurses gave patients and families.

"Imagine what a breakthrough it would be to find a drug that bought cancer patients seven months of high-quality time,” said Ruth McCorkle, a professor at Yale University School of Nursing and lead author of the study. "Well, we've found something that can extend life that dramatically, and it's not a drug that requires a long and expensive approval process before patients can benefit from it.”



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