Interaction between professionals and cancer survivors in the context of Brazilian and Canadian care.
Rafaela Azevedo Abrantes de Oliveira, Márcia Maria Fontão Zago, Sally Elizabeth Thorne
PMID 29267543WHAT IT FOUND
Urologic cancer survivors in Brazil and Canada described communication gaps with clinicians.
They wanted humane, understandable information, continuity with one professional, and reliable support. Brazilian patients often relied on family or internet; Canadian patients cited nurse and website help.
Key findings
01Patients in both Brazilian and Canadian contexts reported problems with communication and relationships within the professional-patient dyad.
02Survivors criticized how clinicians communicated the cancer diagnosis and said they needed language they could understand.
03Brazilian survivors reported frequent doctor rotation and used family or the internet when information was hard to access; Canadian survivors described institution-recommended resources and nurse help.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used only nine Brazilian and nine Canadian participants, so it cannot show how common these experiences are. The original datasets were not designed to study professional-patient interaction; communication themes were not the primary focus. The Brazilian group had mostly elementary school education, while the Canadian group had mostly university or college education, so differences may reflect education and culture rather than care systems. All Canadian participants were Caucasian and all participants were men with urologic cancers, so it does not speak to women or other cancers. It reports perceptions and authors' interpretation, not tested communication interventions or measured outcomes.
Declared interests
FAPESP supported the work (process #2014/12058-6). No other declarations are included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the Canadian-Brazilian comparison as proof that nurse-led communication or telenursing improves care. The study reports survivors' perceptions from small secondary datasets and does not test an intervention or measure outcomes.