Breast cancer is a major concern in women's health in the western world, and is now receiving more and more attention also in the East. In China, for example, where the incidence of breast cancer was very low, there has been a rapid increase of the disease since the last few years. This report describes how a collaborative nursing project between the Hadassah Medical Organization and the Tianjin Cancer Institute and Hospital was initiated, planned and implemented.

This article will look at the theory of a Learning Organization as described by Senge and the Israeli Breast Care Nurses as an example. A description of the theory of a Learning Organization, the role of the Breast Care Nurses in Israel and the relation between the two will be described. Since 1996, the role of the Breast Care Nurse was founded in Israel. At that time, the role with its importance was very hard to be recognized by the health care team and other professionals of the multidisciplinary team for breast cancer patients. Since the role was initiated, it had been developing all over Israel through the support given by the Israel Cancer Association. As a learning organization, the Breast Care Nurses have a few goals: To learn to give patients the most updated and relevant information; to be a part and be seen as equal as the other members of the multidisciplinary team for breast cancer patients; to have knowledge which empowers them as a working group; to enable to teach students, mainly nursing students, in basic and further education and to help continually teach a new generation of nurses. This learning organization involves some formal and informal education. Although oncology nurses do much of the ideas we have described, we suggest using a strict model to help in implementing a Learning Organization. Future research can examine the outcomes of a Learning Organization on oncology nursing.

Objective: To examine the hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related knowledge among Asian American college students and to determine whether there are significant differences in the level of HBV knowledge among Asian American subgroups. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was self-administered to assess a sample of 258 Asian American students' knowledge about HBV at the campus of the research site. Results: Knowledge regarding transmission and consequences of HBV infection was poor. Of a possible knowledge score of 14, the median number of correct answers was eight. There were no significant differences between the subgroups of Asian American college students in total knowledge of HBV infection. Conclusion: The findings of this study point to the fact that the lack of knowledge and awareness is not limited to community settings only but also includes higher education environment. This finding brings to the forefront the importance of HBV education for Asian American college students.

Objective: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the factors affecting cancer patients' quality of life. Methods: We collected data from 352 chemotherapy patients of an Outpatient Chemotherapy Unit in a state hospital. We included volunteered chemotherapy patients with a signed informed consent and at least 50 Karnofsky Performance Scale points. We gathered data by Personal Information Form and Nightingale Symptom Assessment Scale (N-SAS) and analyzed via basic descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis. Results: Patients were women (54.8%), married (83.5%), elementary school graduates (57.1%), housewives (44.6%) and undergoing fluorouracil-based therapy (47.2%), and almost all patients had religious and cultural rituals for the disease. Women experienced worse physical and social well-being than men (P = 0.001, P = 0.0001). Singles had worse psychological and general well-being (P = 0.0001, P = 0.0001). Housewives had the worst physical and social well-being (P < 0.05). No relationship existed between education level and life quality (P > 0.05). Breast cancer and sarcoma patients had the worst social well-being than other cancer patients. The N-SAS points of patients were not affected by blessings/prays, vow/sacrifice, consulting local herbalists and visiting "ocaks (folk physicians)" (P > 0.05). Patients with bad quality of life practiced lead pouring and amulets (P < 0.05). Gender was the first factor affecting the quality of life. Conclusion: Advanced studies on individual quality of life factors affecting cancer would empower nurses for better personal care techniques and patients for easily overcoming the disease.

Objective: The administration of chemotherapy forms a major part of the clinical role of oncology nurses. When a mistake is made during chemotherapy administration, admitting and reporting the error timely could save the lives of cancer patients. The main objective of this study was to assess the perceptions of oncology nurses about why chemotherapy administration errors are not reported. Methods: This is a descriptive study that surveyed a convenient sample of 128 oncology nurses currently practicing in the Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. The tool for data collection was a structured questionnaire that consisted of two sections. The first section was for the demographic data of participants and the second section consisted of questions constructed based on the Medication Administration Error (MAE) reporting survey developed by Wakefield and his team. Results: Findings showed that majority of the nurses (89.8%) have made at least one MAE in the course of their professional practice. Fear (mean = 3.63) and managerial response (mean = 2.87) were the two major barriers to MAE reporting perceived among oncology nurses. Conclusion: Critically analyzing why medication errors are not reported among oncology nurses is crucial to identifying strategic interventions that would promote reporting of all errors, especially those related to chemotherapy administration. It is therefore recommended that nurse managers and health care administrators should create a favorable atmosphere that does not only prevent medication errors but also supports nurses' voluntary reporting of MAEs. Education, information and communication strategies should also be put in place to train nurses on the need to report, if possible prevent, all medication errors.

Objective: Scalp cooling (SC) is applied to reduce chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). The aim of this study was to investigate patients' familiarity and opinions and oncological professionals' attitude and knowledge about SC in the Netherlands. Methods: Ex breast cancer patients, nurses and medical oncologists (MDs) from SC and non-SC hospitals filled out questionnaires. Results: The majority of MDs and nurses were satisfied with the results of SC, as were SC patients. Over 33% of MDs and nurses perceived their knowledge level insufficient to inform patients about effectiveness, which was over 43% for information about safety. MDs main reason to not apply SC was doubt about effectiveness and safety. Nurses generally offered SC to a minority of eligible patients. Patients were frequently unfamiliar with SC before diagnosis. Seventy percent of SC patients with insufficient results (20/52) reported to mind it very much. With expected success rates of 35% and 50%, respectively, 36% and 54% of patients would use SC again. Conclusion: Room for improvement has been shown for both patients' familiarity and oncological professionals' knowledge about SC. Sharing knowledge about results, safety and patients' experiences will improve patient counseling and SC availability. The results of this survey led to the development of a national standard on CIA and SC.

Objective: To identify the associated factors of cervical pre-malignant lesions among the married fisher women residing in the coastal areas of Sadras, Tamil Nadu. Methods: The study was conducted in five fishermen communities under Sadras, a coastal area in Tamil Nadu, India. Two hundred and fifty married fisher women residing in the area. Quantitative descriptive approach with a cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected using a structured interview schedule for identifying the associated factors and Pap smear test was performed for identifying the pre-malignant cervical lesions among the married fisher women. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Among 250 women, about six (2.4%) of them presented with pre-cancerous lesions such as atypical squamous cell of undifferentiated significance (ASCUS) - five (2%) and mild dysplasia one (0.4%). Majority of the women, about 178 (71.2%) women, had abnormal cervical findings. Statistical analysis showed a significant association of risk factors such as advanced age, lack of education, low socioeconomic status, using tobacco, multiparity, premarital sex, extramarital relationship, using cloth as sanitary napkin, etc. Conclusion: The study findings clearly show the increased vulnerable state of the fisher women for acquiring cervical cancer as they had many risk factors contributing to the same.