. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Aug 1.

Published in final edited form as: Semin Oncol Nurs. 2019 Jun 20;35(4):348–353. doi: 10.1016/j.soncn.2019.06.006

Table 1.

Implications for Nursing Practice

Implication	Potential Role for Nurses
Ongoing, informal caregiver support	Continue providing real-time psychosocial care and referral to medical and non-medical resources, especially using evidence-based strategies.⁶⁸
Systematic assessment of caregiver well-being and needs	Utilize rapport with caregivers to facilitate well-being screening and needs; utilize healthcare system and quality knowledge to ensure follow-through with appropriate referrals and resources
Caregiver training	Provide caregivers with training in the medical and nursing tasks they will be expected to conduct at home; check in about confidence/competence at subsequent visits
Assess patient preferences for family involvement	Facilitate ongoing conversation and document family involvement preferences
Development, evaluation, and dissemination of clinical strategies	Engage in developing and refining workable strategies for systematic caregiver support; promote successful approaches
Development of system-level support and strategies for caregiver support	Identify and escalate needs and challenges around supporting family caregivers (e.g., work flow issues that limit integration of screening or training into daily clinical practice; need for protocols or standards)