Running head: MODULE 1 ASSIGNMENT 1
Nursing Care of a Cancer Patient
Rasmussen College
NUR2392: Multidimensional Care II
Date
, NURSING CARE OF A CANCER PATIENT 2
45-year-old female patient Anna has many risk factors that could predispose her to
[breast] cancer. Some of these risk factors include, history of diabetes, smoking, obesity,
genetics, age, and noncompliance of diet and medications, (Rebar, Ignatavicius, & Workman,
2018). Patient Anna has explained that she has not been feeling well the past six months and has
become unusually tired. Extreme fatigue is usually one of the most common symptoms of cancer
development. She also discovered a lump on her right breast while doing a self-breast exam
along with recent right nipple pain. Nipple pain caused by cancer will usually only affect one
breast and nipple. Although Anna did not describe the type of lump she felt in her right breast, it
is abnormal from what her breasts normally feel like and a firm, irregular shaped lump is
normally cancerous. Anna admits to never having a mammogram performed on herself before.
This discovery shows that there was no way to identify this issue ahead of time before it
progressed to the stage of development that it is now. A mammogram is an X-ray image of the
breasts to screen for breast cancer and plays a key role in early detection and helps decrease
breast cancer deaths, (Rebar, Ignatavicius, & Workman, 2018). Since Anna has never had one
performed, it is difficult to determine whether the lump is cancerous or not and if so, what stage
of development the cancer has progressed to. During the breast exam in the physician’s office,
her practitioner palpated a lump in Anna’s right breast, but no discharge from the nipple.
Although nipple discharge accompanying a lump in the breast increases the chances of cancer,
no nipple discharge is a good sign for the patient but does not rule out cancer completely. Anna
also admitted to tenderness in her right breast upon palpation. Normally breast pain is not
associated with breast cancers and less than 3% of breast cancers are associated with pain,
(Samiian, 2019). There was no symmetry between both breasts. The left breast had no
Nursing Care of a Cancer Patient
Rasmussen College
NUR2392: Multidimensional Care II
Date
, NURSING CARE OF A CANCER PATIENT 2
45-year-old female patient Anna has many risk factors that could predispose her to
[breast] cancer. Some of these risk factors include, history of diabetes, smoking, obesity,
genetics, age, and noncompliance of diet and medications, (Rebar, Ignatavicius, & Workman,
2018). Patient Anna has explained that she has not been feeling well the past six months and has
become unusually tired. Extreme fatigue is usually one of the most common symptoms of cancer
development. She also discovered a lump on her right breast while doing a self-breast exam
along with recent right nipple pain. Nipple pain caused by cancer will usually only affect one
breast and nipple. Although Anna did not describe the type of lump she felt in her right breast, it
is abnormal from what her breasts normally feel like and a firm, irregular shaped lump is
normally cancerous. Anna admits to never having a mammogram performed on herself before.
This discovery shows that there was no way to identify this issue ahead of time before it
progressed to the stage of development that it is now. A mammogram is an X-ray image of the
breasts to screen for breast cancer and plays a key role in early detection and helps decrease
breast cancer deaths, (Rebar, Ignatavicius, & Workman, 2018). Since Anna has never had one
performed, it is difficult to determine whether the lump is cancerous or not and if so, what stage
of development the cancer has progressed to. During the breast exam in the physician’s office,
her practitioner palpated a lump in Anna’s right breast, but no discharge from the nipple.
Although nipple discharge accompanying a lump in the breast increases the chances of cancer,
no nipple discharge is a good sign for the patient but does not rule out cancer completely. Anna
also admitted to tenderness in her right breast upon palpation. Normally breast pain is not
associated with breast cancers and less than 3% of breast cancers are associated with pain,
(Samiian, 2019). There was no symmetry between both breasts. The left breast had no
