Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena
| Thesis Title | Bone marrow transplantation: role of nurse within the clinical-care pathway with particular attention to therapeutic education |
|---|---|
| Name | Mele Marianna |
| Supervisor(s) | Cinque Giuseppina |
| Academic Year | 2014/15 |
| Thesis type | Non research thesis |
Abstract
Transplantation consists in removing bone marrow or peripheral blood cells from a partially or totally histocompatible donor, from an identical twin or from the same patient, and in their reinfusion after submitting the recipients to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. The application of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has reported in the last years a progressive expansion of the indications, so much that it has become a first-line treatment at the early stages of many hematologic malignancies. Furthermore, the progresses that have been made, have allowed their use also in non-malignant diseases.
The high-dose therapy administered before transplantation and the same transplantation can cause unwanted effects on all the organs and tissues, producing severe secondary complications with immediate and delayed impact, of variable intensity. The most common complications of BMT are: the graft-versus-host-disease, the veno-occlusive disease, the opportunistic infections and the second malignancies.
Nursing addressed to this type of patients is intensive and total, so a specific and complete training is required. Success of the treatment is significantly affected by nursing, whose aim is not only to prevent and possibly to nurse the complications that could be occurred during and after transplantation, but also to make the patient an operative protagonist of the diagnostic and therapeutic pathway.
In order to make this possible, one of the most important contributions made by nurses during this treatment, it is necessary to highlight the therapeutic education addressed to both patients and their families. The aim is to make the patient aware of his illness and of his treatment pathway, able to supervise, look after and to adapt himself. Therefore, education aspires to lead the patient to reconcile his life plans to the treatment needs, improving thus the quality of life.