Exploring the effectiveness of digital technology to support patients with adrenal incidentaloma: a literature review
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Exploring the effectiveness of digital technology to support patients with adrenal incidentaloma: a literature review

Ideh Kont Nurse and PhD Student, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Fahmy Hanna Supervisor and Consultant, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Mohammad Hasan Doctor, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Wilfred McSherry Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To enhance your knowledge of adrenal incidentaloma and the issues that patients with this condition may experience

  • To understand how digital technology could be used to support patients newly diagnosed with long-term conditions

  • To identify how online and web-based information and support programmes could be adapted to support patients with adrenal incidentaloma

An adrenal incidentaloma is a mass discovered on the adrenal glands when patients have an investigative scan for an unrelated reason, and is considered a long-term condition. Online resources for people with other long-term conditions can provide information and advice on self-management, which can reduce their stress and anxiety.

This article reports findings of a literature review on the effectiveness of using digital technology and digital communication methods to support patients newly diagnosed with a long-term condition. No evidence was found on this topic in relation to adrenal incidentaloma, so the literature on other long-term conditions – specifically cancer, diabetes mellitus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – was reviewed.

The article suggests that, despite the limited data on digital technology to support newly diagnosed patients with adrenal incidentaloma, online and web-based information and support programmes are used successfully for patients with other long-term conditions. Therefore, these programmes could be adapted or developed for this patient group.

Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2020.e1720

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

@IdehKont

Correspondence

ideh.kont@uhns.nhs.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Kont I, Hanna F, Hasan M et al (2020) Exploring the effectiveness of digital technology to support patients with adrenal incidentaloma: a literature review. Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2020.e1720

Acknowledgement The authors wish to thank and acknowledge Mathew Stone from the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust library for facilitating this research

Published online: 26 October 2020

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