How Is Oral Mucositis Treated In Children

How Is Oral Mucositis Treated In Children

Introduction

Cancer is a major public health issue that affects many people globally. The disease affects both children and adults, where brain cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma are the most prevalent form of cancer witnessed among the children aged between five and fourteen. Patients with cancer undergo chemotherapy treatment to suppress the impact of cancerous cells. However, chemotherapy causes adverse side effects, such as oral mucositis. Oral mucositis involves the inflammation of oral mucosa leading to bleeding, pain, and ulceration. Children and adolescents undergoing chemotherapy are prone to several oral mucositis. Additionally, the type, duration, and dose of chemotherapy influence the severity and frequency of mucositis.

Therefore, the study will conduct a literature search to gather information about mucositis prevention among children. It will comprise various segments, namely, search, discussion, conclusion, and implication. The search section will introduce the key terms used to search for the articles. It will describe the database used to obtain the sources, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the rationale for these decisions. Additionally, the search section will provide details about the strategy and criteria used to identify key articles. The discussion section will provide an overview of key articles, including the study, the methodology, and findings discussed in the study. It will also define research terminologies. The conclusion segment will summarize the strategy used to conduct the literature search and the articles’ findings. Finally, the study will discuss the implication of a literature search on the nursing practice. It will explain the knowledge learned from the search and further information that needs to be searched. The implication will also mention how searching for the evidence provides further insight into the prevention of mucositis. It will identify and mention the research gaps.

Evidence-based practice allows nurses and medical practitioners to collect, process, and implement research findings to improve clinical practices and patient outcomes. In the nursing practice, EBP enables nurses to offer patients with cost-effective and high-quality care. It also allows nurses to use critically appraised and scientifically proven evidence to provide quality health care services to a specific population. In this case, the literature search will provide nurses with critical findings of effective measures to prevent mucositis in children. As a result, knowledge will enable nurses to offer quality patient care and improve children’s health outcomes with cancer.

Literature Search

The literature search used various key terms to find articles relating to the topic. The keywords used include prevention of mucositis in children, medical strategies for preventing mucositis, how mucositis in children is prevented, preventing mucositis among children with cancer, and how to minimize chemotherapy-induced mucositis in pediatric.

The literature search obtained articles from a different database, including Google Scholar and CINAHL Plus, with full text. The inclusion criteria considered various factors. For example, the search incorporated articles related to the topic of the prevention of mucositis among children. It selected the articles published not older than ten years to enhance the relevance of the finding to the current nursing practice. The search also included sources written in the English language, and the full document is available online. The credibility of the authors was another factor of consideration. The search chose articles published by authors in the medical and nursing fields to enhance the information’s credibility and reliability. On the other hand, the exclusion criteria also considered publication time, language, availability of the source, and the author’s credibility. The search excluded articles published from the year 2010 and backward. It also omitted sources published in other languages rather than English. The search did not select articles that were not available online. It also excluded sources published by non-medical or nursing authors.

The online database provided numerous results for the search. However, the study selected only sources that relate to the topic. It chose articles that discussed how to prevent mucositis in children. The selected articles ranged between the years 2010 and 2020. They contain key terms such as “guideline for deterrence,” “prevention and treatment of mucositis,” “treatment of oral mucositis,” and “patient and management.” The literature search settled on the key articles that provided insight into the evidence-based practice of preventing mucositis among children.