The role of nursing in cervical cancer prevention and treatment.
Nurses today assume multiple roles, such as patient advocate, care provider, and research investigator. At the Second International Conference on Cervical Cancer (April 11-14, 2002, Houston, TX), nurses presented original research describing these roles in the context of cervical cancer screening, prevention, and detection in the United States and Sweden; outlined the uses of practice guidelines; and suggested future directions for nursing research. In the 20th century, nurses expanded their patient care responsibilities and promoted cancer control by expanding their skills. Some sought to broaden the spectrum of care by investigating cervical cancer screening disparities, behavioral aspects of screening, and differences between the stated purposes of screening programs and those of the nurse-midwives operating them. In the 21st century, nurses interested in cervical cancer control expect to broaden the scope of their care and their research roles further by continuing to improve training, advocating screening (and increased education about screening), and helping to establish new sources of funding for research.
Hilton
Linda White
LW
Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Patient Affairs, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. lwhite@mdanderson.org
Jennings-Dozier
Kathleen
K
Bradley
Patricia K
PK
Lockwood-Rayermann
Suzy
S
DeJesus
Yvette
Y
Stephens
Diane L
DL
Rabel
Karen
K
Sandella
Judith
J
Sbach
Alma
A
Widmark
Catarina
C
D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy*; D016387:Women's Health