Educational intervention in advanced practice nursing for managing symptoms, toxicities, and quality of life in patients with lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of a proactive educational telephone intervention, led by an advanced practice nurse (APN), to manage symptoms and toxicities and improve quality of life in patients with lung cancer, compared with reactive care.

METHODOLOGY: Quasi-experimental study with 1:1 allocation to intervention group (IG) or control group (CG) in a multidisciplinary lung cancer unit between February 2023-2024. IG received proactive telephone educational intervention by the APN, while CG received reactive telephone care. Quality of life, anxiety, depression, symptoms, toxicities, health care and satisfaction were evaluated using validated and ad-hoc questionnaires. The descriptive and inferential, univariate and bivariate analysis was performed using R software.

RESULTS

Sixty patients per group were included. The median age in both groups ranges between 60-75 years, the majority were men (76.7% IG; 65% CG) with a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (76.6% IG; 80% CG). There were no sociodemographic or treatment differences. The IG had a significant reduction in symptoms: asthenia (35.1% IG; 17.9% CG, p = 0.011), anorexia (78.9% IG; 46.4% CG, p = 0.00029), and less intensity in dyspnea, cough, pain, and other symptoms. Significant reduction in toxicities (p < 0.05) and Improvement in quality of life, anxiety and greater overall satisfaction was observed (9.54/10 IG; p = 0.000587).

CONCLUSION

The Proactive nursing educational intervention is effective in improving quality of life, reducing symptoms, toxicities, anxiety, and increasing satisfaction in patients with advanced lung cancer by detecting needs early and activating relevant resources.