Introduction and Key Points

  • Topic Selection: The topic I chose to research and write about is “Outcomes associated with nutritional status.”
  • Research Question: “What effects does nutritional status have on the emotional, healing, and physical aspects of a client diagnosed with one of the four stages of cancer or liver disease?”
  • Significance: According to Bharadwaj et al. (2016), malnutrition is an independent risk factor for patient morbidity and mortality, leading to increased healthcare costs.
  • Key Findings:
    • The stage of cancer, the client’s age at diagnosis, and the type of cancer significantly impact the client’s nutritional status (Shahvazi et al., 2017).
    • Liver disease also leads to poor nutritional habits due to the body’s inability to detoxify effectively.

Article Search

  • Search Strategy:
    • Initial searches were conducted using Google Scholar, NCBI journals, and the Chamberlain University Library website.
    • The search was refined by using specific keywords related to nutritional outcomes in cancer and liver disease.
    • Further refinement included filtering for peer-reviewed articles published between 2015-2019.
  • Outcome: This search strategy provided a wide range of articles, which were then narrowed down to a few that were particularly relevant and informative on the topics of cancer and liver disease.

Article Findings

  • Summary of Selected Articles:
    • The articles selected for this paper discussed various aspects of care, health, and treatment related to clients with cancer, liver disease, or both.
    • Esophageal Cancer and Malnutrition: According to Rietveld, S., Witvliet-van, N., Ottens-Oussoren, K., Van, D., & De, V. (2018), patients with esophageal cancer are at a higher risk of malnutrition during neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT), which can have significant implications for their treatment outcomes and overall health.