A Uro-Oncology Nurse Specialist's Reflection on her Practice Journey

by Beverley Anderson

Overview

This book provides a unique insight and background of a uro-oncology nurse’s career from a personal and professional perspective, one that encapsulates the ever changing dynamics in the nursing profession over 40 years - 1970’s to current, 2022. In writing this book, the objective is to devise a beneficial point of reference, one that is conducive to enlightening individuals within the healthcare profession and the wider context, on the art of reflection and acknowledging its benefits in terms of exploring their feelings and understanding their meaning.

Reflection is a highly beneficial tool. In this context, the process enables the author to reflect constructively on her nursing career and practice, to highlight the positive as well as the negative aspects within that practice, and illustrate how the experiences gained have contributed to her development, personally and professionally, throughout that journey. Reflection includes deliberate reflection on experience, emotions, actions and responses and acknowledging how essential these have been to informing the author’s existing knowledge base and in ensuring a higher level of learning and understanding.

In the continued quest to deliver optimal healthcare, the objective of reflection is in enabling healthcare individuals e.g. nursing students, newly qualified nurses or those considering change of nursing speciality, to better understand their patients from a holistic standpoint (physical, psychological, psycho-social, spiritual, cultural and economic) and ultimately, improving the individual patient’s overall experience – cancer or otherwise, as well as improving and enhancing practice outcomes.

The importance of reflection and its contribution to increasing the healthcare professional’s self-awareness – emotional, personal and professional, is also well underlined. Various Modules and Case Studies within the book are used to explain and highlight key issues, and to enhance content and visual acuity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030941987
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	03/24/2022
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Beverley Anderson is a Macmillan Uro-Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist (MUCNS) at Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK. She works within Secondary Care at a multi-site District General Hospital, as a member of the Urology department. This role involves working in a multi-disciplinary context within the Tertiary Care and the Primary Care sectors and the Community. Her professional background encompasses a range of abilities, including nineteen years in-depth experience of nursing patients with both urological dysfunction and urological cancers, at various stage of progression.

Her academic achievements comprise:- MSc Advanced Practice; BSc Hons Nursing; Diploma in Higher Education (Dip HE Nursing). Another aspect of her role has resulted in the delivery of nurse-led services, provision of mentorship to her colleagues and nursing students. The undertaking of projects requiring management, audit, research, and analysis, through to their conclusion.

As an MUCNS, her role is pivotal in the diagnosis and management of those patients diagnosed with urological cancers. As such, she has a keen interest in increasing an individual’s cancer experience, and practice outcomes. Central to achieving this objective have been her observations and reflections on practice, identifying problems and concerns and taking steps to address them. Various Modules and Case Studies within the book are used to explain and highlight key issues, and to enhance content and visual acuity.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2 The Early years
Chapter 3 The changing dynamics of nursing: a personal and professional experience of nearly 50 years
Chapter 4 A Constructive interlude in my career path
Chapter 5 Urology Nursing: Accentuating my experiences of the principles of practice
Chapter 6 A perspective on uro-oncology management and highlighting the MUCNS role in this management
Chapter 7 Educational and practical aids to enhancing practice
Chapter 8 Coping with the ‘breaking of bad news’: personal and professional perspectives
Chapter 9 Penultimate reflections
Chapter 10 A final reflection of my clinical practice journey
Appendices