Abstract
In this study, we clarified the trend of consultations at the Oncology Nursing Outpatient Clinic of Gunma University Hospital over a 10-year period. The total of approximately 13 000 consultations at the Oncology Nursing Outpatient Clinic from April 2010 to March 2020 were summarized. The survey items included the number of consultations, the consultation frequency, categories of consulters (patients/non-patients), hospital visit status of the consulters, and concerns for which consultations were sought. Analysis was performed by the simple aggregation function on Excel for each item and each year. The results showed that the total number of consultations has remained at the level of 1000-1500 per year since 2013. In regard to the consultation frequency, ‘2 or more times’ since 2017 was more than 50%. The categories of consulters were ‘Patients’ and ‘Other than patients’, accounting for similar percentages. However, the percentage of ‘Patients’ has been on the rise since 2015. In regard to the hospital visit status of the consulters, ‘Had received outpatient treatment at Gunma University Hospital’ and ‘Had received inpatient treatment at Gunma University Hospital’ have ranked high since 2015. The most common concerns for which the consultations were sought were ‘Cancer treatment,’ ‘Anxiety and mental distress,’ ‘Symptoms, side effects and sequelae,’. Initially, ‘Cancer treatment’ ranked top among the concerns for which consultations were sought, but ‘Anxiety and mental distress’ has been on the rise since 2017. It was suggested that it is important to maintain a consultation system that can be used by users of Gunma University Hospital and cancer patients and their families in Gunma Prefecture.
