Paper short abstract:

In France, the cancer announcement device appeared in 2006, built on a specific nurse work. In 2012, an ethnographic study explored a hospital situation to propose recommendations on practices. The results have echoes on the institution organisation dependent on the national cancer politic.

Paper long abstract:

In 2003, the French National Institute of Cancer (INCa) develops its first « cancer plan » whose mission is to define procedures for improving quality health care and research directions. One of its measures establishes a cancer announcement process which is centred on a specific nurse work. In 2006, this process was introduced in a University Teaching Hospital (UTH) of Aquitaine.

In 2011, these cancer announcement nurses (CAN) brought out their role and their practices, and claimed a own identity and a social recognition. As a response, in January 2012, an ethnographic study has been realized, focused on the nurses' practices and representations of the announcement work.

First, the UTH expected recommendations to improve the process and the implanting, because the UTH groups together different health services, all not dedicated to cancer: a lot of disparities in the implanting of the process emerge detailed by the observational study.

Secondly, through the interview with each of the 33 CAN in place, it appears that the implanting of the process and its perpetuation depend on the nurse's identity as a CAN and the UTH policies about the health service. Its identity comes out (1) by training, where a standard nurse is transformed in a CAN (2) through different definition of cancer announcement and its practices: "human" part of nurse work opposed to a tailored announcement.

As a conclusion, the ethnological problematic is to make visible and comprehensible this hybrid identity to connect the nurses and the UTH by recommendations acceptable by all.