Symptom experiences of critically-ill hematologic malignancy patients: A scoping review.

Context: Critically-ill patients with hematologic malignancies are increasingly admitted to intensive care units globally. Unrelieved symptoms during intensive care treatment may contribute to poor outcomes.
Objective: To better understand the symptom experience(s) for critically-ill patients with hematologic malignancies.
Methods: A scoping review was conducted searching Medline, CINAHL, PychInfo, Embase, and ProQuest databases, the Cochrane Library, and the grey literature between January 1st, 1990 and July 15th, 2020. Two authors independently reviewed articles for inclusion and verified abstracted data.
Results: Seventeen articles met inclusion criteria, including 11 cohort studies, 1 case-control study, and five review articles. No qualitative or mixed-method studies were retrieved. Symptoms were reported as the primary outcome across two studies (17%). Reported hematologic malignancy subtypes included leukemia and/or myelodysplastic syndrome (9, 53%), lymphoma (8, 47%), multiple myeloma (7, 41%), and aplastic anemia (2, 12%). The principal indication for ICU admission was respiratory failure, followed by cardiogenic shock/cardiac failure, endocrine disturbances, sepsis, and neurological failure. Only one study used validated tools for evaluating symptoms. Thirty-four symptoms were reported: altered level of consciousness/coma (35%); diarrhea (35%); nausea (35%); dyspnea (35%); vomiting (29%); and pain (29%). Two articles (13%) identified symptom clusters.
Conclusion: There is minimal research that measures and explores the symptom experiences of critically-ill patients with hematologic malignancies. New research in this domain is needed to inform targeted symptom care for this vulnerable patient population.
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