Perceived Learning Needs of Hospitalised Cancer Patients and Nurses.
Xi Zhang, Meiliyang Wu, Ye Chen and 2 others
PMID 39950427WHAT IT FOUND
Hospitalised cancer patients and nurses agreed that complications and symptoms were the top learning need.
Nurses, however, thought patients needed more information about medication, daily activities and disease than the patients themselves reported.
Key findings
01Patients and nurses both ranked complications and symptoms as the highest-priority learning need.
02Overall, patients reported lower learning needs than nurses attributed to them.
03Nurses rated medication, daily treatment and activities, and disease-related issues as more important than patients did.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Convenience sample from eight general hospitals in central China, so results may not apply to other countries, regions, hospitals or patients. Cross-sectional survey of self-reported perceptions at one time, not a test of whether tailored education improves outcomes. Many patients had less than secondary school education (68%) and long hospital stays (75.9% had stays mainly more than 29 days), which may limit generalisability. The study compared nurses' perceptions with patients' perceptions but did not measure actual teaching delivered or patient recovery.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurses are giving too much disease information or that this will improve patient care. The study only compared self-reported learning-need ratings at one time and did not test an education programme.