Nursing's role in cancer prevention and detection. Vital contributions to attainment of the Year 2000 Goal.

Currently there are 1.5 million practicing registered nurses in the US who could be utilized to assist in meeting the Year 2000 Goal to reduce cancer mortality by 50%. As the largest health professional group in this country, nurses are in more community settings and work with more people than any other health professional. In the last 10 years, nurses have shifted their orientation from tertiary prevention in the acute care setting and have increasingly become involved in primary and secondary prevention in both the hospital and the community. The nursing literature clearly reflects this new emphasis on incorporation of primary and secondary prevention concepts into nursing education and clinical practice. This article will focus on the traditional and nontraditional cancer prevention/early detection activities nurses have instituted in a multitude of settings (occupational, acute care, educational, and community) as well as pointing out the research that documents the effectiveness of these activities.