Cancer prevention and early detection: nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, personal practices, and teaching.

This study evaluated the impact of an educational workshop on nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and personal practices regarding cancer prevention and early detection (CP&ED), as well as the effect that it had on their teaching of CP&ED recommendations. Four one-day workshops--which included lectures, small group discussions, and practice of early detection skills--were held in three cities in Minnesota. Students from baccalaureate, associate-degree, and practical nursing programs participated (N = 220). Preworkshop, postworkshop, and six-month follow-up surveys were used to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and self-practice of the participants, as well as their teaching of clients, family, friends, and peers. Data were analyzed with matched paired t-tests, chi-square, correlation, and analysis of variance. The postworkshop and six-month follow-up surveys showed improvement in the students' knowledge and attitudes; however, the only self-practice behaviors that changed within six months of the workshop were breast/testicular self-examinations. The results also showed that the students felt more confident and subsequently taught more clients, family, friends, and peers about the CP&ED recommendations. These findings indicate that educating students early in their careers may increase the number of people practicing CP&ED recommendations.

Nutrition and cancer: educating the public through a health fair.

Minnesota has a high incidence of dietary-associated cancer, including colorectal, breast, and prostate. To increase public awareness of cancer risks and health benefits of dietary behaviors, the Metro Minnesota Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) participated in a public education health fair. Supported by a Special Project Funding Grant from the ONS, 42 chapter members assisted more than 700 Metro area residents at seven locations to assess and improve their diet according to the American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines. To evaluate the effectiveness of the project, a postcard survey was sent to 200 (29%) names randomly drawn from raffle entries. Seventy-five surveys were returned (38%). Ninety-five percent found the assessment helpful in evaluating their diet, and 80% made dietary changes in the two weeks following the health fair. Results indicate that nurses should continue to educate the public about the relationship between diet and cancer. Recommendations for further consideration include assessment of long-term effects of the health fair education format and provision of a brochure about ONS. Benefits included community education and ONS member participation in a chapter activity.

Improved determination of phenobarbital, primidone, and phenytoin by use of a preparative instrument for extraction, followed by gas chromatography.

A microprocessor-controlled automatic extractor, (PREMTM I) is described with which lipophilic components may be extracted from physiological fluids by means of a selective, solid-phase extraction cartridge, and the extracts presented in dry form for subsequent analysis. This instrument has been successfully evaluated for the extraction of phenobarbital, primidone, and phenytoin from human serum before chromatographic analysis. We describe a specific method for determination of these anticonvulsants, involving the PREP I and analysis, after flash-heater methylation, in a gas chromatograph equipped with a nitrogen-sensitive detector. Absolute recoveries ranged from 90 to 102%. Within-day and day-to-day precision (CV) ranged from 4 to 7% for all three drugs in therapeutic concentrations. Comparison of this method with results obtained with a liquid--liquid micro-scale extraction and a similar gas-chromatographic method resulted in correlation coefficients of 0.988 (phenobarbital), 0.978 (primidone), and 0.982 (phenytoin). These drugs in therapeutic concentrations can be simultaneously extracted and measured with confidence.