Article # 8
Using Blended Aromatherapy for Anxiety and Stress Management in Patients Receiving Oncology Care
Luna Love, DNP, RN-BC, Kelly Crawford, DNP, APRN, FNP-C®, and Cheryl Adair, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
BACKGROUND: Aromatherapy has been a well-documented, safe, complementary clinical intervention for various health conditions in and out of the hospital setting.
OBJECTIVES: This evidence-based quality improvement project evaluates the effect of blended essential oils (lavender, orange, and peppermint) on stress and anxiety in hospitalized patients with cancer.
METHODS: Participants (N = 30) on the inpatient oncology unit received nightly blended essential oil aromatherapy as a complementary intervention. A modified version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21-Item tool was used pre- and postintervention to assess changes in participants’ anxiety and stress levels.
FINDINGS: Nightly aromatherapy produced a statistically significant decrease in anxiety (p < 0.001) and stress (p < 0.001). Supportive aromatherapy is a holistic, nurse-driven intervention that may help reduce anxiety and stress in hospitalized patients receiving oncology care
Discussion Starting Points:
Please choose two for your response:
How does this research article compare to our practice, policy and or procedure?
What are the advantages and disadvantages to the proposed recommendations in the article?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the article recommendations on your unit and/or hospital?
Was the correct method used? Why or why not?
How does this research article compare to our practice, policy and or procedure?
ReplyDeleteI work in 2 hospitals both taking care of oncology patients. At St Joseph, we don't have the practice of using aromatherapy for our patients while at City of Hope, it is widely use especially in controlling their nausea and also helps in calming them during a seemingly stressful procedure.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the article recommendations on your unit and/or hospital?
As what the article indicated, it is "Nurse Driven", and because our oncology patient population are susceptible to anxiety and stress especially for a newly diagnosed patient, aromatherapy would be highly beneficial. As per my experience, I have provided some kind of aromatherapy to my patients especially right after Chemotherapy and it I had very positive feedback from my patients.
Marzenna Messina
DeleteAt St. Joseph's, I haven't noticed a practice of essential oils in use for reducing anxiety in oncology patients. I have been also working at DFCC at times, and I have not heard of this practice either. Usually, patients are prescribed a medication to use. Some nurses might be providing a recommendation of use holistic ways to improve anxiety.
It would be a big advantage of implementing the article recommendations on our unit because patient going through diagnosis, treatment, post treatment symptoms are dealing with anxiety. Medications that might be prescribed are having side effects and the use of some is posing a risk for fall and dependence to their use.
The practice of recommending essential oils will benefit patients without having all the side effects that medications provide. As a nurse, it is important to provide education to patients to enhance their well-being.
In addition
How does this research article compare to our practice, policy, and or procedure?
DeleteSaint Joseph's does not have a policy regarding use of aromatherapy for patients receiving oncology care. On a few occasions, had patients use their own essential oils to help with their nausea but not for anxiety or stress.
Was the correct method used? Why or why not?
In my opinion, there are several reasons why this study did not use the correct method;
the study only followed 30 participants and did not specify what type of cancer each had, information that could decipher if aromatherapy is beneficial to patients with specific cancers more than others. The study did not include a list of medications patients were taking during the duration of their hospital stay and participating in the research. If anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications were administered to any of the participants, it could have an impact on the study results. The length of the study is unclear, but does state the average length of stay was nine days.
At PSJMC, aromatherapy is not available for patient use. However, patients sometimes will bring their own essential oils and diffusers for in room use in order to create a more comfortable environment. In my casual observations, this seemed to help them relax, feel more at home and provided some control over the otherwise institutional hospital setting.
DeleteHospital policy prohibits, or requires plant operations to authorize, most electronics, which may interfere with the use of diffusers. Essential oil use alone could be another tool to help with symptom management as well as provide patients comforts from home. It would be interesting to see more research on this subject and learn how hospitals integrate this approach into their practice.
(This is my post above :)
DeleteHow does this research article compare to our practice, policy and or procedure?
ReplyDelete- This research article is relevant to our practice because it correlates to holistic ways our patients can combat the side effects of their chemo meds. This holds true for our patients who don't like to utilize too many medications and want to go the "natural" route. I have taken care of patients who prefer the scent of lavender essential oils to combat nausea associated with chemotherapy.
What are the advantages and disadvantages to the proposed recommendations in the article?
- An advantage of aromatherapy use for our oncology patients is that it gives them the sense of control of their symptoms. We have seen patients be non compliant with their regimen for fear of the associated side effects. If they were given the option to choose what method of symptom management works for them, then maybe that can lead to better patient outcomes. A disadvantage of using aromatherapy for our patients would be that the essential oils are masking symptoms. It would be difficult for nursing staff to distinguish if their symptoms such as nausea or headache are being caused by the chemotherapy or the essential oils.
How does this research article compare to our practice, policy and or procedure?
ReplyDeleteProvidence St. Joseph does not have any policy in regards to using aromatherapy. Our oncology patients mostly use medications in order to help reduce anxiety and nausea. There are a few patients that bring in essential oils to assist with nausea.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the article recommendations on your unit and/or hospital?
There are many advantages to implementing this article to our unit. For starters, there are times when we aren't able to give any other medications that can help. Often times, anxiety makes nausea and pain worse. Using aromatherapy is similar to giving a warm pack or an ice pack to a patient having pain, it won't fix the anxiety but it can help reduce it. Another advantages is that some patients do not want to take medications of any kind, by implementing this article it allows patients to have more options and choices in their care.
How does this research article compare to our practice, policy, and/or procedure?
ReplyDelete"There is currently no formal aromatherapy policy at Providence St. Joseph. Although pharmacological management remains our standard practice for oncology-related nausea and anxiety, some patients utilize personal essential oils as a complementary approach."
What are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the article recommendations on your unit/or hospital?
Nightly aromatherapy offers oncology patients a gentle, non-medicated way to reduce anxiety, support better sleep hygiene, and take an active role in their own comfort. However, because chemotherapy alters smell sensitivities, these scents can sometimes trigger unexpected nausea or lasting aversions. Additionally, continuous overnight diffusion may irritate sensitive airways and requires caution for patients with hormone-sensitive cancers due to the mild estrogen-like effects of oils like lavender.
Aromatherapy is not an official therapy treatment in my place of work. However, I have seen patients who bring their own essential oils used for their own aromatherapy. Some have expressed relief of anxiety, and better sleep with its use.
ReplyDeleteIf aromatherapy is to be used on our oncology unit, it will definitely be beneficial to our patients if it’s been studied to relive anxiety or stress and promote better sleep. It will help the healing process of patients who will choose to experience it. However, it may be a disadvantage if its use has not been proven to be safe with drug interactions and side effects. For example, it may trigger nausea, headache, or even insomnia.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed recommendations?
ReplyDeleteThe article recommends using blended lavender, orange, and peppermint aromatherapy as a standardized, evidence based complementary intervention to help reduce anxiety and stress in oncology patients. The project’s findings showing significant decreases in both measures and supports the idea that aromatherapy is a safe and holistic strategy that can help emotional well‑being without adding clinical burden. This aligns well with the need for medicine based symptom management options for cancer care, especially for patients having persistent emotional or psychological strain during treatment. The recommendations do carry limitations because while essential oils are generally safe they still present potential risks such as skin sensitivity or scent intolerance. In addition, the project’s small sample size, single unit setting, and use only at night restricts generalizability and questions about long term effects, dosing frequency, and whether other patient groups might respond differently.
Was the correct method used? Why or why not?
I believe the method was appropriate as it was an evidence based quality improvement design that administered consistent dosages of blended essential oils nightly and measured pre‑ and post‑anxiety and stress levels using a modified Depression Anxiety Stress Scales which allowed observed changes to reflect performance rather than random fluctuations. Credibility is strengthened as it applied a standardized assessment tool and evaluated the intervention directly in a real inpatient oncology setting. But despite the method being sound, the approach has limitations with the small sample size and no control group. The assessment doesn't fully capture all the conditions that could influence patient response such as prior aromatherapies and scent preferences.