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Longitudinal evaluation of a breast cancer training module. Preliminary results
Author(s) -
Ford Melissa B.,
Martin Rebecca D.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19951115)76:10+<2125::aid-cncr2820761336>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , family medicine , medical diagnosis , cancer , physical therapy , longitudinal study , cancer screening , pathology
Background . In 1993, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention began a longitudinal evaluation of its efforts to improve early detection and prevention of breast cancer by training health cane professionals in special assessment skills, including how to determine risk and how to teach patients to detect breast cancer early. Methods . Sixty‐three nurses enrolled in the 1‐week training module were studied in this descriptive analysis. Their evaluation incorporated not only pretests and posttests of knowledge and clinical performance but also an employer survey, pretraining and posttraining patient logs, and an assessment of clinical skills in each participant's practice setting. Results . Students made statistically significant gains in measures of general knowledge, clinical knowledge and performance, and routine practice of risk assessment, risk counseling, and history taking and physical examination of old (i.e., familiar) patients. Furthermore, the number of patients screened, patients referred, and cancer diagnoses made increased significantly over time, not only between pretraining and posttraining at 6 and 12 months, but also between 6 and 12 months' posttraining. Conclusions . After learning and practicing new skills, participants successfully incorporated and maintained them and increased referrals and cancers detected, thereby improving the effectiveness of cancer screening. Cancer 1995;76:2125–32.