Discharge Planning for Colorectal Cancer Patients

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
The case study is about John, a 62 years old patient, who had been under treatment for
the several days till he had made a successful recovery. However, a proper discharge planning is
required to be made in order to ensure an ideal recovery planning suitable to the physical and the
emotional grievances of the people. This paper would provide with a discharge planning
mentioning about the survivorship issues that the patient might be facing across physical,
emotional, social and spiritual spheres of health. It will also propose a strategy that can be made
for the prevention of the identified issues.
Discharge planning
John who had been suffering from colorectal cancer is currently getting his last round of
chemotherapy and is now ready for the discharge. Colorectal cancer is the second most common
type of cancer in Australia that affects both the men and women. In addition to physical
examination, the diagnosis of colorectal cancer includes a biopsy. Some of the other types of
tests that are required to diagnose the colorectal cancer is colonoscopy, where a doctor looks
inside the rectum and the colon (Anderson, Steele & Coyle, 2013). Finally a biopsy is used to
understand the occurrence of colorectal cancer. A molecular testing of the tumour can also be
done by using a laboratory test on a tumour sample for identifying the specific proteins and
genes unique to the tumour (D'Souza, Daudt & Kazanjian, 2016). Colorectal cancers are tested
for the problems in the mismatch repair proteins, known as the mismatch repair. Initially it is
used for understanding the Lynch syndrome, next the results would be used for determining if
the immunotherapy can be considered for the patients suffering for the metastatic breast cancer.
A complete blood count test can also be used for the assessing the levels of the proteins CEA.

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
John might have been subjected to neo-adjuvant therapy for the rectal cancer using the
preoperative chemoradiation therapy. This indicates towards the fact that John might have been
suffering from stage II or III disease. Preoperative chemoradiation therapy has been proven to be
a standard of treatment options for the patients with stage II and stage II cancer.
The follow care for John would include regular physical examinations and some other
medical tests for monitoring the recovery (Primrose et al., 2014). Apart from a regular visit to the
doctor, some of the tests included a CEA test for detecting the level of CEA proteins that
indicates, whether the cancer has spread to different parts of the body. Again a pelvic CT scan
has to be dome after six or 12 months (Primrose et al., 2014)
Collaborative approaches to education and planning for self-management
Cancer survivorship starts at the diagnosis and continues till the entire life span. The
important care incudes inhibition of the recurrent symptoms, surveillance for the recurrence and
medical or psychosomatic effects of cancer, interventions for the concerns of treatment of cancer
and promotion of health ( McCabe et al., 2013). There are several physical challenged, that the
cancer survivors have to face with. Some of the major physical problems involved stomach ache,
cramping, Incontinence, Constipation and diarrhoea (Duijts et al., 2017). Some of the physical
problems involves urinary incontinence, male sexual dysfunction as well as female sexual
dysfunctions (Averyt & Nishimoto, 2014).
The cancer survivors are subjected to face with several psychological issues like anxiety,
depression. They are also likely to suffer from post traumatic disorder (PTSD). The prevalence
of anxiety and depression symptoms appears to be closely related to physical functioning of the
patients, the economic contraints, cognitive functioning, lack of social support and concerns