Discharge needs among women with mastectomy: a suggested nursing care plan

Background Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women worldwide. Mastectomy is widely used in the surgical management of breast cancer. It affects women emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Identification of the patients needs after mastectomy can help them cope with their condition as well as help nurses develop a guided discharge care plan. Aim To determine discharge needs among women with mastectomy and establish suggested nursing care plans. Design A descriptive exploratory research design was used in the study. Setting The study was conducted at the surgical department in the breast cancer hospital at Eltagamoah El-awal City subordinate to the National Cancer Institute affiliated with Cairo University, Egypt. Sample A purposive sample of 100 adult women with breast cancer who performed a Modified Radical Mastectomy. Tools Two tools were utilized to collect data: (1) personal and medical background data form. (2) adapted Toronto Informational Needs Questionnaire of Breast Cancer. Results The highest informational needs among studied women with mastectomy prior discharge were spiritual needs with a mean percentage (88.8%), followed by physical needs (87.8%), then treatment and complications with a mean percentage (of 87.2%). Conclusion Based on the results of the study, the studied women with mastectomy before discharge had informational needs in this order; spiritual, physical, treatment and complications, disease, and informational needs about investigation and tests, while the least dimension was psychosocial needs. Recommendation A longitudinal study is recommended to determine the long-term effect of unmet needs especially before hospital discharge after mastectomy.