So far in my research process, I have been able to find ten good sources that I can use. Searching on EBSCOhost has really helped me find scholarly articles that apply to my topic. I have been able to find a lot of research and articles about the effects cancer has on the patient and family. I also have a few articles pertaining to the oncology nurse’s role and their jobs are. On the other hand, I found the Gale online resources not very helpful in finding sources and information. Most of the search results did not relate well enough to my topic. I have also been struggling to find information about how treatment decisions are made for patient with cancer and how the oncology team works together.
As I have looked though the sources I have so far, multiple of them come from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. I was exposed to this site when using it to see genetic codes in biology class but have been surprised about the amount of articles it contains on cancer and about oncology nursing specifically. It has tremendously helped me in understanding an oncology nurse’s role and how much information and decisions cancer patients want. I have also found the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing to be very applicable to many of the questions I had asked about my topic. This resource is sometimes tricky when they need you to pay to view the article, but it allows me to see the article titles so then I can find it other places online.
While I continue to look at my essential questions and research questions, I have decided to focus my sources more on the topics relating to the treatments, effects of cancer and the oncology nurses and doctors. Looking back at my declaration of research, I noticed that my questions about the current research and the general cancer questions don’t always apply to my main goal. I am trying to learn about oncology nurses, doctors, and treatments because I want to find out how oncology nurses and doctors work together and how treatment is decided in order to help myself understand whether oncology nursing is an appropriate career choice for me. The elements of a typical day in the life of an oncology nurse, the role of the nurse, and the nurses role in decision making seem more applicable to me. However, it is still important that I do understand the effects that cancer has on the patients, families, and me. From my research I have noticed many aspects of cancer treatments that I had not thought about. For instance, many patients just want the doctor to be the decision maker even though they do like knowing what is going on. I have also noticed that I am drawn toward pediatric cancer and nursing specifically. In that way, I had not thought about how many families have to move across the country because there are not as many pediatric oncology physicians. The research is an ongoing process and I continue to find more useful sources while my thoughts about research questions continue to change.
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