BREAST CONSERVING SURGERY AWARENESS AND ACCEPTANCE AMONG FEMALE NURSES IN IRRUA SPECIALIST TEACHING HOSPITAL
Authors: Okomayin A. A. , Brotobor D. , Onyeanusi A. E. , Alili I. B. 
Published: November 2021

Introduction: Breast Conserving Surgery (BCS) is oncologically safe for eligible patients with breast cancer and has enormous physical and psychological benefits. Despite this, the mastectomy rate in many centres is still very high. Nurses are frontline staff in healthcare settings and have great contact with the patients. The level of their awareness would have a great impact on patients eligible for breast conservation seeking expert opinion. This study explored the awareness, perception and acceptance of BCS among female nurses in a rural Nigeria tertiary hospital.

Methodology: A quasi-structured self-questionnaire was distributed to 235 nurses using a convenient sampling method. The responses on 219 adequately filled questionnaires were entered into an IBM SPSS Statistics Data Document (version 21.0) for analysis. Categorical variables were presented in counts and percentages. Association between the acceptance of BCS versus its awareness, equivalence to TM and years of nursing practice were tested using Chi-square probability test and a p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Result: The 219 participants had a good representation of junior and senior nurses among whom 80.4% were at least 45 years old and 82.2% were married. The nurses were mostly general nursing practitioners (76.7%) and 49.3% of the nurses had practised for a duration not less than 10 years of age. The 126 (57.5%) nurses, who described BCS as the surgical removal of a cancerous breast lump short of mastectomy, were considered to be aware of BCS irrespective of their understanding of complementary treatment modalities, eligibilities, comparative advantages to TM and certainty of its oncologic safety. The lack of ready access to radiotherapy centres (54.3%) and delay/overcrowding of these facilities (42.5%) were recognised respectively as major local challenges to BCS practices. The equivalence of BCS to TM was affirmed in 44.3% of the nurses and 35.6% had participated in managing breast cancer patients using the conservative surgical approach. 57.1% were willing to accept BCS or recommend it for an eligible friend or relative and no statistically significant association was observed among those who accepted BCS when matched with the level of awareness or the duration of nursing practice. A higher and significant level of acceptance of BCS was noted among those aware of its oncologic equivalence to TM (p-value = 0.000)

Conclusion: This study demonstrated gaps in knowledge of BCS among nurses who are stakeholders in assisting patients make the right decision. This knowledge gap in the perception of BCS will interfere with the ability of the nurse to adequately counsel patients in need of their expert opinion. The awareness of the oncologic equivalence of BCS to TM increased its acceptance significantly. An increase in public awareness and education of nurses is required to improve the acceptance rate of BCS in our practice. Caregivers should also devise effective means of communication to encourage eligible patients for breast conservation