ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Caring in Africa is often viewed from sociopolitical and humanity perspectives. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the meanings and expressions of caring from the narratives of persons living with cancer and their nurses. METHODS: This study adopted a qualitative ethnonursing methodology. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the key participants, who were grouped into 7 nurses and 6 patients. General participants included 4 physicians, 3 ward assistants, and 6 patients' relatives. Interviews of participants were digitally audio-taped and then transcribed verbatim. Data analysis in this study followed the phases of ethnonursing data analysis enabler and was conducted using NVivo 14 software. Data categories were reviewed and sorted to discover recurrent patterns within the data. RESULTS: Caring was seen as a social practice that is both transactional and transformational. Six thematic patterns emerged: restoring hope, reaching out to the inner lifeworlds of the patients, mutual empathy, going the extra mile, compassionate presence, and being human/having a sense of human connection. The study revealed that there are discernible patterns in care needs and expectations, even though each cancer patient is unique in his or her specific care needs and expectations. CONCLUSION: Caring in this study constituted a variety of meanings, and human caring was demonstrated and practiced interpersonally. Hence, there is evidence of living caring in everyday life, in observable ways. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurses should enhance both their own and the patient's sense of personal meaning in the caring partnership to enable them to be present in concrete unique nursing situations with the suffering human being.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: In recent times, significant innovations have been made in cancer immunotherapy. These innovations have yielded positive outcomes, including a substantial improvement in the clinical outcomes of cancer patients, especially in the B-cell setting involving patients with B-cell malignancies. Method: This paper explores oncology nurses' actual and expanded roles in utilizing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. Result: CAR-T therapy is an exciting innovation in cancer treatment. However, this therapy is often associated with some mild to life-threatening side effects and toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Unfortunately, nurses lack adequate standardized guidelines for monitoring and managing patients with CRS. This paper explains oncology nurses' actual and expanded roles in utilizing CAR-T therapy in treating B-cell malignancies based on experience and published data. Discussion: Nurses' responsibilities for patients experiencing CAR-T toxicities with a particular focus on CRS during treatment are discussed.
