Nursing Records Regarding Decision-Making in Cancer Supportive Care: A Retrospective Study in Japan

This study was performed to examine the content of decision-making support and patient responses, as documented in the nursing records of individuals with cancer. These patients had received outpatient treatment at hospitals that met government requirements for providing specialized cancer care.

Nursing records from the electronic medical record system (in the subjective, objective, assessment, and plan [SOAP] format), along with data from interviews, were extracted for patients receiving outpatient care at the Department of Internal Medicine and Palliative Care and the Department of Breast Oncology. Data analysis involved simple tabulation and text mining, utilizing KH Coder version 3.beta.07d.

The study included 42 patients from palliative care internal medicine and 60 from breast oncology, with mean ages of 70.5 ± 12.2 and 55.8 ± 12.2 years, respectively. Decisions most frequently regarded palliative care unit admission (25 cases) and genetic testing (24 cases). The assessment category covered keywords including (1) "pain," "treatment," "future," "recuperation," and "home," as terms related to palliative care and internal medicine, as well as (2) "treatment," "relief," and "genetics" as terms related to breast oncology. The plan category incorporated keywords such as (1) "treatment," "relaxation," and "visit" and (2) "explanation," "confirmation," and "conveyance."

Nurses appear crucial in evaluating patients' symptoms and treatment paths during the decision-making support process, helping them make informed choices about future treatments, care settings, and genetic testing. However, when patients cannot make a decision solely based on the information provided, clinicians must address complex psychological concepts such as disease progression and the potential genetic impact on their children. Further detailed observational studies of nurses' responses to patients' psychological reactions are warranted.