Anne Hampton
Anne is an Oncology Nurse at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
Vikkie Allan
Vikkie is an Endoscopy Nurse Practitioner at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
Glossary of terms related to cancer
Auxiliary nurse – a healthcare assistant who will help professional staff to look after patients in hospitals, nursing homes or in the community. They will carry out basic care tasks under the supervision of a qualified nurse or another qualified health worker.
Chemotherapy - Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment. It kills the cancer cells by damaging them so they can't reproduce and spread further. There are many ways in which chemotherapy can be given, including tablets or injections directly into a vein. It is known to cause side effects such as fatigue and hair loss.
Endoscopy - a nonsurgical procedure used to examine a person's digestive tract. Using an endoscope, a long, thin flexible tube with a light and tiny video camera attached to it, health professionals can view pictures of your digestive tract on a TV monitor (this is what Vickie describes when she says she is an upper + lower GI nurse endoscopist).
Haematology - is the study of the morphology and physiology of blood (both the blood and the blood forming tissues). This branch of medicine concerns itself with the prevention of diseases related to the blood as well as diagnosis and treatment.
Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) – a healthcare assistant who works under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. The HCSW should have the awareness and ability to address the basic care needs of individual patients
Hospice – a type of care designed to give emotional, social and spiritual support to people with chronic or terminal illness. It focuses on comfort and the quality of life of the patient, rather than cure. It enables people to be free of as much pain as possible with some high levels of pain control.
Oncology - a branch of medicine that studies and deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer/tumours. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. An oncologist helps with a patient’s care from the cancer diagnosis stage and throughout the treatment of the disease.
Order your FREE booklet 'The Big C'
To find out more about Anne, Vikki and the other heroes that help those with cancer order your free booklet 'The Big C' from the Open University and explore our BBC co-production 'The Big C & Me'.
-
Download your free 'The Big C & Me' booklet
With millions of people living with cancer, this OU/BBC series follows the lives of some of them as they deal with everything the disease has to throw at them: from the moment of diagnosis to whatever lies beyond.
Learn moreDownload your free 'The Big C & Me' bookletTV Programme
Try a free health and social care course
Diversity and difference in communication
Interpersonal communication in health and social care services is by its nature diverse. As a consequence, achieving good or effective communication whether between service providers and service users, or among those working in a service means taking account of diversity, rather than assuming that every interaction will be the same. This free course, Diversity and difference in communication, explores the ways in which difference and diversity impact on the nature of communication in health and social care services.
Learn more ❯Diversity and difference in communicationCaring in hospitals
This free course, Caring in hospitals, considers the type of care offered in hospitals, using Leeds General Hospital as a case study. The course looks at the people who have roles within the hospital, how they interact with each other and patients, and what they consider to be 'care'. The different approaches and contributions to care by doctors and nurses are explored and patients give their perspective on the care they receive.
Learn more ❯Caring in hospitalsSocial care in the community
Social care involves the challenge of supporting people who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to function without assistance or supervision. This free course, Social care in the community, focuses on one important area of social care, home care for older people.
Learn more ❯Social care in the community
We invite you to discuss this subject, but remember this is a public forum.
Please be polite, and avoid your passions turning into contempt for others. We may delete posts that are rude or aggressive, or edit posts containing contact details or links to other websites.