Descriptive study to compare patient recall of information: nurse-taught versus video supplement.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Antineoplastic Agents, published as a randomized controlled trial.

An important goal in oncology nursing is to provide outpatients receiving chemotherapy with adequate information about their treatment so they will be able to cope with treatment reactions and make appropriate decisions about seeking early medical attention when potentially serious side-effects occur.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate patient teaching strategies at one cancer centre.

Why It Was Studied

A comparative descriptive study design was employed.

A group of patients receiving one-to-one nurse/patient teaching was compared to a group of patients receiving one-to-one nurse/patient teaching plus a take-home instructional chemotherapy video.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Because people in this Antineoplastic Agents study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

What Was Measured

The patient groups were compared with respect to: a) level of recall of chemotherapy information; b) the sources of information used; and c) preferred information sources.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Antineoplastic Agents, Educational Measurement, Mental Recall, Neoplasms, Nurse-Patient Relations, Nursing Evaluation Research and Oncology Nursing.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Antineoplastic Agents.

The publication is from 1999 (Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique), a journal based in Canada.

More context: all human trials.