Symptom Clusters and Cancer Nursing Research: Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Recently, cancer has become a public health problem worldwide. The concept of symptom clusters, i.e., the study of symptoms for symptom patterns pooled by common characteristics, has become important in cancer nursing research and has been used in studies of symptoms in cancer. Objective: To conduct a systematic review of the use of symptom clusters in oncology nursing practices. Method: A survey was conducted in MEDLINE, whose search keys were “symptom cluster or symptom clusters”, “oncology or cancer” and “nursing”. Results: Selected papers point to a growth of studies on symptom clusters, and that nursing has a primary role in the assessment and intervention of the impact caused by the clusters. Conclusion: The identification of clusters is, according to the articles, thus contributing in clinical practice and treatments. Therefore, the oncology nursing has a key role in ensuring that the symptom clusters are used in the management of care.