Nurses' reports of psychiatric complications in patients with cancer

Increasing acuity of hospitalized patients with cancer has placed greater and more diverse demands on nurses. This is especially true in relation to the management of psychiatric problems that require added time and skills. This study surveyed all nurses (n = 100) working on 15 inpatient units in a 565-bed cancer research hospital on one day regarding psychiatric problems present in 475 patients under their care. Nurses reported that significantly more patients exhibited symptoms requiring psychiatric consultation than did not. Results also indicate that patients who were acutely ill and in need of intensive nursing care had significantly more psychiatric symptoms than patients with low acuity illness. The most prevalent symptoms were depression and/or anxiety and delirium. Nurses who must care for an increasingly ill population with more severe psychiatric symptoms need additional education to manage these problems. Study findings led to increased availability of nurse-to-nurse consultations as well as establishment of a task force to develop a psychosocial teaching manual.