Congress Abstracts 2004

78

PROVIDING INFORMATION FOR PATIENT RECOVERY: CREATION OF AN EDUCATION BOOKLET FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS FOLLOWING RADIATION TREATMENT VIA MAMMOSITE RADIATION SYSTEM. Sandy Wiles, RN, OCN^®, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston Salem, NC.

Oncology nurses play an important role in educating the patient in achieving a complication free and complete recovery, especially with shorter hospital stays and outpatient surgery.

Patients with early-stage breast cancer are usually candidates for conservative treatment, thereby avoiding mastectomy. The Mammosite radiation system is an innovative breast cancer treatment modality that delivers radiation directly to the tumor bed. In order to deliver the radiation to the tumor site, a balloon catheter is placed directly into the tumor bed. Since margins around the tumor are unknown until the pathology report is available, the catheter placement usually takes place 3–4 days postoperatively. The balloon catheter has an external line that attaches to a high dose radiation (HDR) machine. The balloon catheter usually stays in place for 7–10 days while patients receive their treatment, and can easily be worn under clothes.

The literature and product information were reviewed, and with the collaboration of the radiation oncology nurse, a radiation oncologist, and patient education specialist, a new booklet has been developed for the Mammosite procedure.

A patient evaluation tool will be used to assess the usefulness of the new booklet and, if appropriate, patient comments will be used to revise the booklet.

Often new and specialized treatment modalities do not have specific educational materials because of the small number of patients being treated. The format of this booklet will serve as a tool to develop other booklets for specialized radiation treatments. This poster presentation will describe the Mammosite procedure and present the new education booklet developed.