Abstract
Patients with cancer can easily become overloaded with information about
diagnosis, prognosis, treatments and side effects. One of a nurse’s most important
roles is to help patients and their families make sense of this, providing support
and information through their cancer journey. However, many barriers exist,
including the nurse’s own knowledge limitations, time constraints and the patient’s
engagement with the nurse. This paper uses critical reflection to evaluate an incident
from clinical practice involving a patient with prostate cancer suffering from a
distressing side effect of treatment: urinary incontinence following a transurethral
resection of the prostate (TURP).The paper examines nurse-patient communication,
and evaluates how nurses can use communication strategies to minimise patient
distress. Practical approaches to managing urinary incontinence are also discussed.
This paper demonstrates that critical reflection is a valuable learning process that
can alter clinical nursing practice to provide the best care for people with cancer.
Key words: Prostate cancer ■ Urinary incontinence ■ Communication ■ Critical reflection