Roles of Nurses in Palliative Care and Pain Management for Geriatrics With Colorectal Cancer: A Scoping Review for Quality Improvement

Background and Aim Colorectal cancer (CRC) in elderly patients is a severe global concern, and palliative care provided by nurses is in high demand at the end-of-life stage. A review to address this critical and under-researched area is warranted, and hence, we chose this as our novel objective. This review will therefore help advance the overall knowledge on nursing education and palliative care by nurses in oncology settings for geriatrics with CRC. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were used as the search tools for the literature survey. The study adopted Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step framework, besides study identification through PRISMA-ScR flow, and adhered to Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE). A total of 18,859 articles were screened, and 65 articles were finalised for deriving the outcomes of the review. Results Nurses play a critical role in CRC via assisting in early detection, treatment, and improving survival. They must therefore be clinically competent. Also, experts in nursing science should take care of patients until the end of their lives at home, preferably addressing the physical needs of the patient. They must make decisions in palliative care provided to the patient and assist their family in the management and alleviation of symptoms, including pain. Conclusion Healthcare providers, such as nurses, can plan for caring for a cancer patient, providing mental and physical support in patient care. This will improve the overall survival of patients with limited adverse effects. Cancer rehabilitation evaluation to address the needs of elderly cancer patients must be utilised by nurses via several surveys and questionnaires. Hence, nursing education remains very important in cancer care for geriatrics.