Procedural Care for Adult Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy

Abstract

This article presents a subset of findings on the experience of bone marrow aspiration and biopsy (BMAB) from an Australian hematology survivorship study. The aim of the larger research was to document and explore issues associated with the experience of survivorship for hematology patients supported by Leukaemia Foundation of Queensland. The experience with BMABs was one of the issues explored. The qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 50 individuals with a diagnosis of a hematologic malignancy from a range of locations throughout Queensland, Australia. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and then analyzed thematically. The findings demonstrate that, for many of the hematology patients in the study, BMABs were a painful experience. The findings indicate that a major contributing factor to the pain and discomfort is the lack of effective procedural care. The findings emphasized the importance of the provision of choice with regard to anesthesia or sedation as part of the procedural care for BMABs. The insights provide urgency to the call for further research to improve clinical practice and procedural care in relation to BMABs. The strong recommendation from the study is that procedural pain in relation to BMABs for hematology patients be managed from the initial procedure as the consequences of a traumatic experience can be far reaching, particularly in light of the need for repeated BMABs over the treatment trajectory. As specialist nurses are now increasingly taking responsibility for carrying out such procedures, the findings have implications for the nursing profession.