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Working patterns and perceived contribution of prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists: a mixed method investigation

Working patterns and perceived contribution of prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists: a mixed method investigation
Working patterns and perceived contribution of prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists: a mixed method investigation
Background: prostate cancer is prevalent worldwide. In England, men living with this malignancy often report unmet psychological, informational, urological and sexual needs. Their experience of care is correspondingly lower than that of other patient groups with cancer. To address this, prostate cancer clinical nurse specialist posts were established across England and Scotland. Their intent was to support men with this form of cancer, enhance symptom management and improve quality of service provision.
Objectives: the research sought to investigate prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists’ roles, determine whom they targeted services at, and determine their work practices and perceived contribution.
Design: a mixed method multi-site exploratory-descriptive design was employed.
Settings: data were collected across four acute NHS Trusts—one in the South of England, one in the Midlands, one in Northern England and one in Scotland, respectively.
Participants: participants included 4 prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists, 19 of their clinical colleagues and 40 men they provided care to.
Methods: data were collected through nurse specialists’ completion of a Diary and Contact Sheets. Interviews were conducted concurrently with the nurses, stakeholders they worked alongside and patients on their caseload. Data were collected between November 2004 and January 2006.
Results: there was great variation in the qualifications and experience of nurse specialists and in the services they provided. Services ranged from generic support and information provided across the disease trajectory to provision of services to meet specific care needs, e.g. providing nurse-led clinics for erectile dysfunction. Patients and members of the multidisciplinary team welcomed the introduction of nurse specialists but were aware they could become over burdened through their rapidly growing caseloads.
Conclusions: variability in services provided by the prostate cancer nurse specialists arose from differences in local demand for nursing services and the skills and experiences of those appointed. Such variability – whilst understandable – has implications for access and equity across patient groups. Further, it can compromise efforts to define clinical nurse specialists’ contribution to care, can impede others’ expectation of their role, and render their outcomes difficult to evaluate
clinical nurse specialist, mixed method, prostate cancer, role evaluation
0020-7489
1345-1354
Ream, Emma
cac5aaf5-797c-4aff-b86f-ea717ac178fa
Wilson-Barrett, Jenifer
e4c27cc0-2c1d-432b-aa9e-69a0beadcaad
Faithful, Sara
199de2c4-2fbd-4b4f-99c3-0b801fb3ed7a
Fincham, Lorraine
525ef4c6-3cb2-479d-ae47-7318fb00b8a5
Khoo, Vincent
d650b6bc-1490-439c-9ee1-e1e657b81d24
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Ream, Emma
cac5aaf5-797c-4aff-b86f-ea717ac178fa
Wilson-Barrett, Jenifer
e4c27cc0-2c1d-432b-aa9e-69a0beadcaad
Faithful, Sara
199de2c4-2fbd-4b4f-99c3-0b801fb3ed7a
Fincham, Lorraine
525ef4c6-3cb2-479d-ae47-7318fb00b8a5
Khoo, Vincent
d650b6bc-1490-439c-9ee1-e1e657b81d24
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7

Ream, Emma, Wilson-Barrett, Jenifer, Faithful, Sara, Fincham, Lorraine, Khoo, Vincent and Richardson, Alison (2009) Working patterns and perceived contribution of prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists: a mixed method investigation. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46 (10), 1345-1354. (doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.03.006).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: prostate cancer is prevalent worldwide. In England, men living with this malignancy often report unmet psychological, informational, urological and sexual needs. Their experience of care is correspondingly lower than that of other patient groups with cancer. To address this, prostate cancer clinical nurse specialist posts were established across England and Scotland. Their intent was to support men with this form of cancer, enhance symptom management and improve quality of service provision.
Objectives: the research sought to investigate prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists’ roles, determine whom they targeted services at, and determine their work practices and perceived contribution.
Design: a mixed method multi-site exploratory-descriptive design was employed.
Settings: data were collected across four acute NHS Trusts—one in the South of England, one in the Midlands, one in Northern England and one in Scotland, respectively.
Participants: participants included 4 prostate cancer clinical nurse specialists, 19 of their clinical colleagues and 40 men they provided care to.
Methods: data were collected through nurse specialists’ completion of a Diary and Contact Sheets. Interviews were conducted concurrently with the nurses, stakeholders they worked alongside and patients on their caseload. Data were collected between November 2004 and January 2006.
Results: there was great variation in the qualifications and experience of nurse specialists and in the services they provided. Services ranged from generic support and information provided across the disease trajectory to provision of services to meet specific care needs, e.g. providing nurse-led clinics for erectile dysfunction. Patients and members of the multidisciplinary team welcomed the introduction of nurse specialists but were aware they could become over burdened through their rapidly growing caseloads.
Conclusions: variability in services provided by the prostate cancer nurse specialists arose from differences in local demand for nursing services and the skills and experiences of those appointed. Such variability – whilst understandable – has implications for access and equity across patient groups. Further, it can compromise efforts to define clinical nurse specialists’ contribution to care, can impede others’ expectation of their role, and render their outcomes difficult to evaluate

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More information

Published date: October 2009
Keywords: clinical nurse specialist, mixed method, prostate cancer, role evaluation

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 69433
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69433
ISSN: 0020-7489
PURE UUID: bfbb8a73-cd02-416c-9de1-441f5ba4759b
ORCID for Alison Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3127-5755

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Date deposited: 06 Jan 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:55

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Contributors

Author: Emma Ream
Author: Jenifer Wilson-Barrett
Author: Sara Faithful
Author: Lorraine Fincham
Author: Vincent Khoo

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