Clinical Nursing: Alternative Therapies in Cancer Treatment and Preventing Never Events

Running head: CLINICAL NURSING 1
Clinical Nursing
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CLINICAL NURSING 2
Clinical Nursing
Discussion 5
Alternative therapies are imperative in cancer treatment. CAM, contemporary and
alternative medicine, is any medical product, practice or system which is not considered to be
standard medical care. Standard care is that which is anchored on scientific evidence. For cancer,
standard care entails biological therapy, radiation surgery and chemotherapy. Notably,
acupuncture is an example of contemporary medicine while utilizing a distinctive diet to mitigate
cancer is an example of alternative medicine. Nurses experience several challenges as they
provide alternative therapies to cancer patients. Specifically, inadequate specialized training and
education for nurses is a major problem. Health professionals particularly those that deal with
cancer patients conduct various activities when advancing alternative therapies. The health
specialists must focus on supportive care, symptom management, education and patients'
assessment. However, inadequate specialized training and education make it difficult for nurses
to perform these activities (Nwozichi, Ojewole and Oluwatosin, 2017). The extent to which the
health practitioners accomplish these responsibilities is questionable. Most nurses learn these
essential skills on the job through different methods. For instance, through informal conferences,
intuition, experience and doctors instructions.
It is possible for nurses to integrate the use of CAM approaches in cancer treatment.
Nurses can do so by adopting leadership roles in research, innovation, education and more so in
advocacy. Nurses should advance their skills and experience through further training to be able
to utilize complementary and alternative medicine in cancer treatment. Likewise, this will ensure
that they focus on patients' assessment and management. Nurses may face varied ethical issues as
they strive to provide alternative therapies to cancer patients. Preventing patient's injury and