Education for Pediatric Oncology Nurses on Fertility Preservation of Pediatric Oncology Patients

Although the survival rate of childhood cancer is high, nearly two thirds of these survivors experience negative long-term secondary side effects from cancer treatments. Infertility is one such side effect that can have a prominent impact on quality of life as the patient ages. It is important for nurses working with pediatric oncology patients to provide the patient and family with education about risk for infertility and fertility preservation (FP) in order to allow families to make decisions about FP before cancer treatment starts. However, pediatric oncology nurses report being uneducated about FP guidelines and are hesitant to broach this subject with families. The purpose of this HIM thesis is to review nurse perceived barriers related to educating patients and their families about the risk for infertility following cancer treatments and FP and to make recommendations for improving communication between nurses and families about FP. A search was performed using CINAHL, PreCINAHL, PsychINFO, PsychARTICLES, and Medline databases and examined peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative research studies. Key terms used in the database searches were ped\u27 OR child\u27, onco\u27 OR cancer\u27, fert\u27, and nurs\u27. Findings indicated that there were many barriers for pediatric oncology nurses, which inhibited the discussion of FP with patients and families such as lack of knowledge and resources, provider attitudes toward FP, and patient factors. Based on the findings, the researcher identified several interventions to aid pediatric oncology nurses in overcoming these barriers to FP discussion