Colorectal cancer family history assessment

This article describes family history assessment for colorectal cancer in three outpatient gastroenterology units and examines gastroenterology unit nurses' knowledge and attitudes about family history assessments. Eighty-eight colonoscopy records were surveyed, and 16 RNs were interviewed. The medical record documentation was surveyed using a researcher-developed tool to identify type of cancer, age at disease onset, family relationship, and number of family members with cancer. Gastroenterology unit nurses were interviewed to assess knowledge and attitudes about family history assessment regarding colorectal cancer. Findings indicate that limited family history documentation was present in the medical record and that important age-at-disease-onset information was missing in 95% of patients with a family history of colorectal cancer and in 85% of patients with a family history of Lynch syndrome-associated cancers. No documentation was found in any charts about the number of affected relatives within the same family. Inconsistencies in family history documentation within the same medical record were noted, and family history information was found in multiple chart forms. Gastroenterology nurses rated family history as very important but gave a lower rating to personal knowledge about and resources for family history assessment.