Patients’ Perception of Care Provided to Patients with Prostate Cancer in Selected Tertiary Health Institutions in South-East Nigeria

Prostate cancer was perceived to be low in Africa, but recent studies have highlighted increase in incidence and mortality rate in the region including Nigeria. Appropriate nursing management of patients with prostate cancer could help to reduce the mortality rate. A descriptive survey was used to ascertain the patients’ perception of pre-operative and post-operative nursing care provided to patients with prostate cancer in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, Anambra State, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Enugu State and Federal Teaching Hospital Abakiliki, Ebonyi State in South East Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from a sample of 274 respondents statistically drawn using stratified random sampling technique from a population of 876. Result showed that patients perceived the post-operative care as satisfactory (80.1%) and pre-operative nursing care as unsatisfactory (40%). The hypothesis revealed that there is no significant difference (p > 0.05) in nursing care provided by the nurses in three selected health institutions. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that there is need to empower nurses with more information on prostate cancer management especially in pre-operative care to enable them to provide suitable quality care.