Approaches to breast cancer screening among nurse practitioners.
OBJECTIVE
To determine nurse practitioners' (NPs') knowledge and reported practices regarding breast cancer screening in a climate of conflicting guidelines.


METHODS
A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was used to examine approaches to cancer screening among NPs in western New York.


CONCLUSIONS
Among the 175 NP respondents, agreement with the accepted answers for the individual breast cancer-screening items ranged from 51% to 80%; responses did not vary by age group or gender. Overall, 54% demonstrated agreement with three or more of four breast cancer-screening items.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest the need to implement educational interventions as one means of decreasing variation in breast cancer screening among NPs. Also, the development and endorsement of a single set of evidence-based breast cancer-screening guidelines would promote adoption of a single screening recommendation.
Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA. Silvana.Lawvere@roswellpark.org
Silvana
S
Lawvere
Martin C
MC
Mahoney
Andrew B
AB
Symons
Jessica J
JJ
Englert
Susan B
SB
Klein
Amy L
AL
Mirand
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic