Introduction: Oral cancer belongs to a group of cancers of the head and neck. It is a heterogeneous group of malignant diseases that occur in the upper respiratory and/or digestive tract. For a complete cancer removal, surgical treatment with or without chemotherapy or radiation is the main treatment. Aim: The aim of the thesis is to define the importance and the role of nursing and nurse intervention in a patient after surgical cancer removal in the oral cavity. Methods: In our research, we have used a descriptive method with a critical review of Slovenian and foreign professional and scientific literature. We have performed analysis of professional scientific articles of patient nursing after surgical cancer removal in the oral cavity. We have searched for relevant articles in the international online databases such as Medline, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Google Scholar and catalog database COBIB.SI. Advanced literature search has been performed with keywords or phrases such as mouth, neoplasm, surgery, treatment, nurse role, where an appropriate Boolean operator AND was used. Inclusion criteria for the selection of relevant literature represent articles and literature in English and Slovenian, published between 2011 and 2021, free availability to the full text as well as articles that directly or indirectly relate to the content under consideration and are connected to our goals. We have included 29 units of scientific and professional articles in the qualitative final content analysis. Results: According to the examination results, nursing care after surgical cancer removal in the oral cavity requires a holistic and also an individual approach, which is an important part of a patient's treatment. Nurses should, with their expertise, identify all of the patient's needs and be actively involved in the multidisciplinary team. They should be well educated in the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the oral cavity as well as in the course of surgical treatment and possible complications. Nurses should be trained to properly communicate with a patient and be able to perform nursing interventions for a patient to recover as quickly as possible. Discussion and conclusion: A nurse first participates in patient's preparations for the surgery, and then, after surgery, appropriately involves and connects the medical staff using a variety of evidence-based expertise. In addition to being responsible for observing the physical health, he or she must also pay attention to patient's mental response. A crucial point in recovery is also timely involvement of relatives and empowerment of cancer patients. Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide. Based on the results collected here, quality and effective health care is required in this area, especially in the context of prevention, which is one of the key priorities.
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