Nursing Research

[tinkerbell23]

we have been given an assignment.

Research for nursing pratice- a literature review on whetever we like. and to find a gap.

im most definately doing breast cancer, possibly
"support for cancer patients after mastectomy"

i think my gap could be male mastectomy?? and support? i wanted to male in frst place but not enough research done to actually work with

however= keeping to cancer, i could have written about so many things- anyone else any ideas x

[Sqad]

<<<<<<i think my gap could be male mastectomy?? and support? i wanted to male in frst place but not enough research done to actually work with<<<<<

Bit limited and obscure!

[Old_Geezer]

Ah but is that not often the case when trying to find a gap. Otherwise it's already done ?

[tinkerbell23]

yeah sqad- i really wanted to make this my main subject- but if i stick to female cancer and support- i think my GAP in research can be that no research is done (or little) on male support, anything i find in journals etc on male suuport is the male supporting a female spouse?

or mabye i should refine even more- to breast cancer, female, affected by : eg, age/ alcohol intake/ diet/ lifestyle etc etc....we have to really home in on something and this is where i get stuck!!

[tinkerbell23]

search throws up..
female breast cancer- 19635 results
male breast cancer- 2477 results

i think this may be my gap...if i go into mastectomy now...hopefully will shed light- however my question can change if anyone has anything at all- even seomething you think you may be interested in to do with cancer (breast)...honest all opinions welcome as you may think of something i havent!!

i nearly done HPV vaccine and male vs female.

[Sqad]

tinker.....a doctor may go through his whole life and NEVER see a case of male breast cancer, it is extremely uncommon.

Many papers and essays are submitted for publication which are totally unsuitable, unhelpful and literally cr@p, of no use to any branch of medicine or nursing and this is not the fault of the students, but the fault of the educational system which encourages this to go on. The interviews are often centred around essays and publications which say little or nothing about your "hands on skills"

Try an essay on the "effect of sex hormones on breast cancer "

[tinkerbell23]

thanks sqad ill look into that....im hoping the more i read on this - a gap will become evident.

hoping today to get my introduction to cancer down, define the cancer, reference and this will make a start- then talk broadly re the breast cancer, and narrow down on my gap.....x

[rowanwitch]

tinkerbell....it will need to be a nursing research gap not a clinical research gap so it should be focussed on a care rather than treatment aspect. Just a few thoughts
The male breast cancer idea is good because of the psychological aspects for men having what is seen as a female cancer..think in terms of psychological impact, body image issues... there should be some fairly good qualitative studies out there..

Also it might be worth including a summary of a fresh research proposal if you find a real gap in what is out there

Another gap would be in the diagnosis and care of teenagers with ovarian cancer not a lot on it but what there is would be fairly new and theres a lot of implications for end of life care, and cultural considerations....loss of desirability as a wife for survivors etc

[tinkerbell23]

...very easy to go off on a tangent actually- we have to stick to nursing care- and nursing related...

eg some going into cathaters..ours should be cathater CARE, and not the whys and whatnot of wether pt should have long term cathater or short etc...as doctor would decide this. hmmmmmmmm

[bednobs]

would they? in the community the nurses would haVE much more expertise and say into the catheters

[tinkerbell23]

aaaaah rowan- you gem!!!

mabye i should find a gap in breast cancer with younger generation- my bet is most research on older - 50s age group!! i will look into that!

THANK YOU!!!!

i thought re male- everything is think pink and where must men go for support? would they reconstruct? nipple tatoo etc? fascinating actually x

[rowanwitch]

Another area is the use of cosmetic surgery for mastectomy patients... face lifts, tummy tucks etc...all to do with making them feel more feminine...

If you went with the man thing how would you suggest reinforcing a masculine self image....especially as chemo might make them infertile... there might be programmes that offer adventure challenges etc thet would have done qualitative studies to justify the costs