Essent of Evidence-Based Pract

Walden University

NURS-6052N-37, Essent of Evidence-Based Practices

Literature Review

Increase in cases of breast cancer has been a major challenge in the healthcare setting. Additionally, treatments for patients suffering from breast cancer have been inadequate and this has created a major crisis thus leading bad health conditions for people living with breast cancer. Additionally, there has been an alarming increase in the number of patients suffering from breast cancer. This particular question on why the levels of breast cancer have increased has not been answered since this particular disease has been termed as being very complicated to understand mainly because its causes are many. However, this increase in the number of breast cancer cases has been attributed to a number of factors. To start with, screening of breast cancer has been a reason for the rise in breast cancer cases. Previously women were never screened for this particular disease. However, with the introduction of new technology screening has become a common thing. Screening has helped in the detection of breast cancer especially during the early years of development. Therefore anytime there is a screening clinic it is expected that the number of women suffering from the breast will increase.

Secondly, lifestyle changes have also attributed to the rise in breast cancer cases. In the modern day world, women have greatly changed their lifestyles this has been attributed to the growth of their careers and also an increase in women’s income. These changes in status have made women to change their lifestyles this means that they can afford to spend more on leisure and thus engage in activities such as alcoholism. Alcohol is one of the major cause of breast cancer among women also it is known to increase the chances of breast cancer in women. Statistically, it has been proven that an increase in the units of drinking by a woman can lead to an increase in the risk of getting breast cancer. Additionally, eating fast foods has also been a major attribute of breast cancer. Women who tend to have excess weight are at a higher risk of getting cancer when compared to women who have less weight (Polit ,& Beck, 2017). 

Other factors that have been known to increase the chances of breast cancer in women include; hormone replacement therapy. The use of hormone replacement therapy has been known to be a predisposing factor for breast cancer. According to research, it was found out that the more the woman uses HRT the more the chances of getting breast cancer. Additionally, women who tend to have children during their late age are at a higher risk of getting cancer when compared to those who get children at an early age. This particular aspect explains why women in less developed countries are less prone to breast cancer. Age has also been known to increase the chances of one getting breast cancer. After reaching the age of menopause, women tend to be prone to getting breast cancer (Hoffman,et al, 2014).

There has been inconsistency and contradictions when it comes to the real causes of breast cancer. The real cause of this particular disease has not been established but there have been a number of predisposing factors that have been established and that have been known to increase the chances of breast cancer in women. Currently, the real cause of this particular type of cancer has not been identified. Initially, it was believed that the major cause of breast cancer was a genetic inheritance, however, this was not to be true and it was concluded that most of the cases are sporadic. Additionally, it was suggested that environmental pollution could also be a factor or a cause of breast cancer but from epidemiological data, this particular idea was disapproved. Another major factor that brought inconsistency was the idea that breast cancer is caused by an infection, however, this particular suggestion did not have any biological evidence or any form of epidemiological support. Since the introduction of oral contraceptives, it has been suggested that these particular type of medication is responsible for breast cancer. However, research has shown that there is no connection between breast cancer and oral contraceptives. A research that involved women with breast cancer and women without breast cancer showed that there was no relationship that existed between oral contraceptives and breast cancer. Lastly, it was found that there was no relationship that existed between breast implants and breast cancer. However, there have been anxieties that women who have implants are at a risk of getting lymphoma which is a rare type of breast cancer. In conclusion, it can be said that dietary fat is not the only cause of breast cancer, but there are other factors, however dietary fat plays an essential role in the development of breast cancer (LoBiondo-Wood, & Haber, 2017). 

Treating and surviving breast cancer requires that a lot of health plans to be initiated. These particular plans should be put forward in order to ensure that any challenges arising from this particular issue of breast cancer are handled in the best way possible. However, mechanisms should be developed to ensure that the patients of breast cancer are not exposed to radiation at regular intervals. In addition, the issue of overdiagnosis should also be put into question. This is because overdiagnosis can be associated with other lifetime sufferings. In conclusion, the evidence presented in this paper clearly brings out the fact that the way breast cancer is handled should be changed and more research on the causes of breast cancer should be researched on to enable the formulation of adequate measures that will prevent the prevalence of this particular illness.

References

Hoffman, A. J., Robinson, C. B., & Weisbrod, B. L. (2014). Putting evidence into practice: an update of evidence-based interventions for cancer-related fatigue during and following treatment. Clinical journal of oncology nursing, 18(6), 38.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2017). Nursing Research-E-Book: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. Chapter 8, “Planning a Nursing Study”This chapter focuses on the necessary steps for planning a research study. It describes different research designs and their key features and discusses how to plan for data collection.