Nursing Interventions for Bladder Cancer
September 6, 2010 | In: Nursing Interventions
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Nursing Interventions: Bladder Cancer
- Encourage the patient to express feelings and concerns about the extent of the cancer.
- To relieve discomfort administer ordered analgesics for pain as necessary.
- Implement comfort measures and provide distractions that will enable the patient to relax.
- As appropriate, implement measures to prevent or alleviate complications of treatment.
- Monitor the patient’s intake and output. Question him regularly about changes in his urine elimination pattern to detect changes in his condition.
- Observe the patient’s urine for signs of hematuria (reddish tint to gross bloodiness).
- Monitor the patient’s laboratory tests, such as changes in white blood cell differential, indicating possible bone marrow suppression from chemotherapy.
- If the patient is being given intravesical chemotherapy, watch closely for myelosuppression, chemical cystitis, and skin rash.
- Instruct the patient and the family about the types of treatment that are being planned for him.
- Teach the patient and family to recognize and to manage adverse effects of chemotherapy.
- Stress the importance of notifying the doctor if the patient develops signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection or other sudden changes in his condition.