- This topic has 26 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Michelle Callahan, I totally 100% agree with you that non-pharmacological options should be the first go to. It is normal to experience anxiety/stress during a time of oncology diagnosis and treatment, just not to the point of being disabling. My opinion has always been that we as healthcare providers want to “fix” everything and that fix is often a new medication. Take surgery for example. It is normal to experience pain after surgery. It is unreasonable for patients to think they will be pain free after surgery, but I feel like not enough is being taught on that front. Patients need to realize pain is there for a reason…they had surgery! Certainly, we don’t want someone to be miserable, so getting them to a point that they can still function and do their ADLs is reasonable. I feel the same goes for anxiety/stress.
Pauley.18, I agree that a policy would be needed especially since their are different weight specifications. As mentioned, disinfection would be an issue if provided in clinic, and many have issues with the glass beads coming out. I like the idea of providing a “guideline” for patients to purchase their own. Warm blankets seem to help a lot to. I think someone mentioned that already, but I always offer a warm blanket.
This is Melissa Van Meter, thank you for the interesting articles!
1. Knowledge gained? I didn’t know that anxiety effected this high of a percentage of cancer patients (66%) more than half of them! I also hadn’t considered the benefit of a weighted blankets to help anxiety during chemotherapy. I also learned that those blankets can be easily cleaned which make them a nice option.
2. Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice? If so how?
Both articles were very interesting. I found the one about weighted blankets most interesting. Patient’s who seem nervous my have anxiety that something as simple as a weighted blanket can improve. It was nice to see interventions promoted other than just pharmacologic. For me since weighted blankets are not currently in use in the clinics I could suggest to patients who are anxious that they could bring their own weighted blanket with them to chemotherapy if they want too. Some patients bring blankets anyways and if a weighted one works better it may be an option they didn’t think of.3. What other questions does the article raise about current practice?
These articles raise the question to me about what other non pharmacologic interventions might help patients with anxiety like aroma therapy, light therapy ect. It was nice to see the weighted blanket as an intervention for anxiety and it would be interesting to see a study comparing the weighted blanket to other non-pharmacologic interventions to see which one works best and if there is one intervention that is statistically better for cancer patients.4. Do you agree/disagree with the conclusions of the author, why?
Okay, what do you do next?
I agree with the conclusions, there is definitely opportunities to improve anxiety interventions for cancer patients. I think that the weighted blanket idea is very cool but I think it would be very expensive to implement and many organizations may not want to put the cost into it. The cost of it may be overcome on the unit level by applying for a grant for the funds to get it started. I think the next thing to do to be fair would be to study the weighted blanket compared to other more traditional forms of stress relief like music, light therapy and aromatherapy as these would be I think more cost effective.Michelle Callihan I agree that we need to focus on non-pharmacologic interventions. If patinets don’t bring their blankets back maybe the weight of more than one regular blanket would also be an option. Fidgets are a big thing right now with the younger crowd but this older population wouldn’t know what those are. đŸ™‚
It would be nice if there was a good way to do some other things like music therapy but the patients would probably need their own headphones… HMMMMindy, That’s a good idea about Bravo money! I didn’t think about that. I have seen units sometimes trying to decide what to spend their Bravo money on. A unit could just purchase a small amount of them 3-5 of them since the article did say that they were easily cleaned with sani-wipes which I also thought was interesting. I wonder how soft the blankets are if they can be wiped down they must not have a cotton exterior. They could probably just be wrapped in a regular warm blanket if not for patient use.
What was the knowledge gained from the article?
1. I love this idea of dealing with anxiety in this manner. One thing I haven’t given much thought to is the overwhelming issues that our elderly population is experiencing when it comes to anxiety. They are not just dealing with a new diagnosis of cancer but it could be accompanying other issues with health, the aging process and possibly dealing with these issues on their own or maybe a decreased support network.
2. Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice?
Like I said I love this idea of dealing with anxiety as opposed to using medications. I would love to implement this method I think it would be more ideal for our elderly population because of drug sensitivity. Then there is the EPS effects of Benadryl causing restless legs. For some patients this can be an absolute miserable period of time. So possibly using Bravo money we could purchase some of these blankets.( Just saw you had the same idea Mindy)
3. Questions raised? My concern would be the effectiveness of wiping down these blankets for re-use. And how many would want to use this method?
4. I do agree with both authors of these articles.Burk.109 and Mindy I don’t see why we couldn’t even recommend to patients the use of weighted blankets. Some may be willing and able to purchase one.
I have dealt with RLS (restless leg syndrome) for years and someone bought me a weighted blanket. I do like it and the security that comes with having it on.I didn’t think of people with breathing problems and weighted blankets. I’m guessing someone with COPD wouldn’t like the feeling of a weight pressing down on their chest! Many people with COPD don’t even lie flat when sleeping. Weighted blankets probably wouldn’t be very good for patients with moderate to severe neuropathy either. I wonder if it would cause any problems for those with circulation problems, especially lower extremity circulation disorders.
Wow everyone what a great discussion! I really enjoy “hearing” everyone’s thoughts on this topic.
I agree that there are so many nonpharmacologic ways to help our patients. We don’t need to be adding to all of the medicines they already have in their system if it can be helped. Even if we don’t use these in the infusion centers it is nice that we can advise the patients about them. Did I miss this in the discussion, can they bring their own in from home?Thanks again for a great discussion.
1. What was the knowledge gained from the article?
One thing I learned and found interesting is up to half of distressed older adults with cancer to not received psychosocial services. Seeing first hand patients experience a complete life interruption centering around a very stressful diagnosis makes me worry about their mental wellbeing as much as their physical wellbeing. Knowing nearly half of this population do not seek out services weighs heavy on me. The first article mentions cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or medications to treat anxiety for the older oncology patient population. I often wonder if adding one more appointment to a cancer patient’s schedule may overwhelm even more? However, smaller interventions like weighted blankets are options to help in smaller ways.2. Will the research/information in this article change or influence your practice?
It was pointed out in the first article that anxiety in result to a threat can result in a behavior change. An example of this would be a smoker wanting to make a healthy lifestyle change and quitting smoking. However, this article also mentioned if anxiety is disproportionate to the threat it can be problematic. I learned from this article that as a nurse assessing for problematic behavior I would look for indicators such as avoidance and frequent reassurance in daily activities. Paying closer attention to questions that focus on functional impairments like declining relationships with others or not being able to keep up with small tasks at home could point out that there is an issue with anxiety. After review of OSU’s anxiety screening tool, GAD-7, I realize my current practice does not include utilizing this tool. Utilizing the GAD-7 is my initial screening when a concern arises will help me verbalize my concerns to providers.4. Do you agree/disagree with the conclusions of the author, why?
I agree monitoring and treating oncology patient’s anxiety could benefit the patient’s psychosocial and physical health. Providing an intervention such as a weighted blanket could offer a small amount of support during treatment. With that being said, patients may start to recognize their own response to anxiety. This could lead to further discussions with providers and be helpful in the long run.Michelle mentioned utilizing PCRMs and social workers through out an oncology patient’s clinic visits. Just curious what extra resources do they provide for oncology mental health? I know of support groups but curious on what other options besides support groups, medications, or behavioral therapy. I worry with such a demanding schedule an oncology patient has with scans, treatments, and appointments with so many providers would having more appointment obligations be too much? Reading about weighted blankets as an option seems like a great intervention!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.