EXPERIENCES AND FEELINGS OF NURSES WORKING IN ONCOLOGY: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Cancer treatment requires from nurses a holistic and personalized care that imposes emotional demands that can lead to situations of stress and/or burnout. Objective: To know the feelings of oncology nurses when caring for cancer patients. Material and Method: An integrative review of qualitative articles published between 2008 and 2020 was carried out in the Clinicalkey, JAMA network, Lilacs, Proquest, Pubmed, Science direct, SciELO, BVS and Web of Science databases. Out of the 2316 documents initially retrieved and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, reading the title, abstracts and critical evaluation, 12 were selected. Results: Oncology nurses are permanently seeking balance between their feelings towards cancer patients and the feelings they consider appropriate when providing care to these patients; they consider psychological support to be necessary to cope with the consequences of working in oncology units, recognizing the support of colleagues as essential. There is a need for training in therapeutic tools and technical skills to support the oncology patient and their family, allowing them to face their own feelings in the face of the disease and provide the best possible care to these people. Conclusions: Oncology nurses develop feelings and emotional ties towards their patients, which emerge from the personal relationship with the person with cancer and are confronted with the strategies used to cope with their own and their patients’ pain.