The role of nurse-led care in cancer management.
Extending nurses' roles and responsibilities so that they may take on some functions of doctors is widely advocated to assist with shortages of medical staff, improve service provision, and to reduce costs. In cancer care in particular, use of specialist nurses to help meet targets for faster diagnosis and treatment is seen as essential. However, there has been little detailed investigation of the consequences, effectiveness, or acceptability of doctor-nurse substitution across health care, or more specifically in cancer services. In this article, I review the evidence for nurse-led care in cancer.
Corner
Jessica
J
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Southampton, Highfield, UK. J.L.Corner@soton.ac.uk
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing*; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D024802:Nurse's Role; D019555:Physician-Nurse Relations