DISTRESS SCREENING IN THE PATIENT WITH CANCE

The Institute for Medicine identifies distress screening as an essential aspect of comprehensive cancer care. Unfortunately, because of limited resources, not all community cancer sites consistently screen for distress. This quality improvement project implemented distress screening in a community based cancer support setting. Applying the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, twenty-one participants of a Cancer Support Community (CSC) affiliate were screened with the CancerSupportSource® (CSS) during an intake interview. The CSS® is a validated 15-item distress screening instrument in an innovative touch-screen tablet format introduced by the CSC in 2014. The distress screening was valuable in opening sensitive communication between author and participants. The author found that the screening process provided an opportunity to discuss emotional topics that may have been overlooked without the screening instrument. Approximately 62% of participants (13 of 21 participants) screened positive for depression and two participants were found seriously depressed providing evidence that screening for distress is imperative. Screening facilitated referral to appropriate support groups, supportive activities within the community, and individual therapy. The PDSA provided a useful framework for guiding this successful community based quality improvement project. Nurses are valuable in bringing distress screening to community settings in order to meet the psychosocial needs of cancer survivors.