Evaluation of the presence of an accompanying person during chemotherapy sessions at Brazilian Institute for Cancer Control (IBCC)

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.200933.1.4

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of chemotherapy in daily activities of patients submitted to sessions at IBCC.
For doing this, a prospective study was done using questionnaires applied regarding primary disease, what transportation means was used to
arrive at IBCC and the presence or not of an accompanying person during sessions at Dr. João Sampaio Góes Jr. Hospital - IBCC in July 2008.
The following results were obtained: breast cancer was the most frequent primary illness in 59% of the patients. We observed that 10% of the
patients had sessions of chemotherapy without an accompanying person, an indication of good evolution and lesser side effects of medication.
Most patients were accompanied, when they were, by first degree relatives. The main means of transport of patients was a car (69%), but about
25% used public transport. We can notice that from patients who were not accompanied, most used public transport, another indication of a
good biopsychic condition for this situation. One concluded that with the evolution of chemotherapic agents, and the reduction of side effects
associated to a greater effectiveness, there is a direct relation with lesser dependence of the patient who is submitted to this treatment, generating
lesser troubles for her and the family, something which affects the presence or not of an accompanying person and even the transportation
means the patient uses.