Congress Abstracts 2006

316

VALIDATION OF A CANCER RELATED FATIGUE QUESTIONNAIRE BY ONCOLOGY NURSE MANAGERS AND EDUCATORS WITHIN AN INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. Donna Colabroy, RN, OCN^® , Joan Scialpi, MSN, RN, OCN^® , Jonathan Gapilango, MSN, RN, OCN^® , Raylene Langish, RN, BSN, OCN^® , Indu Lew, PharmD, and Robert Adamson, PharmD, Saint Barnabas Health Care System, West Orange, NY.

Fatigue is a complex and multi-factorial disorder. An estimated 60 to 85% of cancer patients in treatment experience fatigue. The Oncology Nurse Managers and Educators, within an eight hospital integrated health care system, evaluated the assessment and interventions employed for the management of cancer related fatigue. It was determined that a standardized process did not exist for fatigue assessment or management.

The purpose of this research is to test the validity of a Cancer Related Fatigue Questionnaire.

In conjunction with pharmacists, nutritionists, physicians and nurses, a review of the literature was conducted on measurement tools for areas such as anemia, sleep disturbances, nutrition, and emotional distress related to cancer. A Cancer Related Fatigue Questionnaire, comprising of twelve questions was developed and approved by the Institutional Review Board. The questionnaire and implied consent form was administered to the patient. Questionnaires were de-identified to protect patient identity. All adult patients greater than 18 years of age and receiving cancer chemotherapy or radiation therapy within the Outpatient Oncology Centers were included in the study. Return of the completed questionnaire indicated implied consent.

If the patient answered yes to being fatigued in the last week and rated their fatigue as 3 or greater on a 10-point scale, patients completed the entire questionnaire. The remainder of the questionnaire focused on the following three domains: emotional distress, nutritional deficiencies, and sleep disturbances. Nursing Managers recorded the patient's hemoglobin on the completed questionnaire. Patients were considered anemic if their hemoglobin was less than 12 gm/dL. Validation of the questionnaire will be ascertained if a minimum of 65% of patients indicated that they are experiencing fatigue.

Of the 76 completed questionnaires 81.6 % of patients (n=62) indicated that they were experiencing fatigue and rated their fatigue as 3 or greater on 10-point scale. Fatigue was related to nutritional deficiencies, emotional distress; sleep disturbances and anemia in 75.8%, 79%, 87.1 % and 75.8% respectively.