New directions: Fertility preservation for pediatric oncology patients, trends in clinical practice and nurses attitudes

The survival rates for most pediatric cancers have dramatically improved over the past several decades. With improvement in survival, quality of life research has recently expanded to include quality survivorship issues such as future fertility. Factors such as patient age/gender, cancer site, and type of treatment can greatly impact future reproductive capacity of cancer survivors. In order to maximize the possibility of preserving future fertility, a discussion of fertility preservation (FP) options should occur as close to diagnosis as possible. Nurses are in an ideal position to discuss FP, as they have multiple interactions with patients prior to initiation of treatment. While research has demonstrated that cancer survivors are concerned about their future fertility, little is known about the quality and consistency of FP discussions in the healthcare setting.

A series of 2 cross sectional surveys were conducted at the 2005 and 2006 annual meetings of the Florida Association of Pediatric Tumor Programs. Two hundred fifteen pediatric oncology nurses participated in the surveys. Three primary dimensions were assessed in relation to the discussion of FP with patients: (1) practice characteristics, (2) provider attitudes towards the discussion, and (3) patient characteristics. Trends in discussion of FP from 2005 to 2006 were also assessed, as new recommendations for FP among cancer patients were released by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June 2006. The results of this research will identify points of intervention to facilitate discussions of FP between nurses, pediatric cancer patients, and their families.