International journal of palliative nursing最新文献

Background: Education of patients with cancer and patient self-management allow better clinical outcomes using e-health or mobile health applications.

Aims: To develop a mobile application to increase the physical and psychosocial adaptation for patients with gynecological cancer who are receiving chemotherapy and to investigate the effectiveness of the mobile application.

Methods: This study was planned as a parallel, single-blind, pre-post test randomised controlled experimental study in which two groups (intervention-control) will be compared. A total of 52 gynecological cancer patients were planned to be included in the study.

Findings: This study is in the protocol stage. Therefore, the results of the study have not yet been reported.

Conclusions: Evidence-based information within JineOnkolojik Destek provides rich data on coping with chemotherapy. In addition, the visual and auditory elements, real patient stories and videos, and the ability to ask questions and receive counselling from the research team can positively affect the physical and psychosocial health of the cancer survivors.

Background: Most people with cancer experience pain caused by the disease and treatment.

Aims: To describe the experience of cancer pain of South African patients.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used; 20 (n=20) participants were purposively selected and in-depth interviews were conducted. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse the data.

Findings: Two themes and five subthemes were identified. The themes were pain as a unique multi-dimensional experience, and that the unmet needs of the patient can influence their experience of pain.

Conclusion: The participants experienced total pain. Emotional pain, enhanced by loneliness and unmet information needs was experienced, and this was felt by participants as the worst kind of pain. Pain was mediated by means of medication that did not work well for all, support, compassionate care and hope that God would cure them and take the pain away.

Recommendation: A person-centred approach to pain management is needed, especially in diverse countries, such as South Africa, to better understand the complexity and influence of culture, language and education on the pain experience and to guide individual pain management.

Synopses of a selection of recently published research articles of relevance to palliative care.

Background: Advance care planning enables people to record their future health and care wishes and appoint someone as an advocate. An advance directive can be made in the event that a person is incapacitated, so that their wishes are still upheld. The beliefs of the nephrology team might affect patients' choices and willingness to sign an advance directive. To increase the number of dialysis patients who have signed an advance directive, it is necessary to educate the nephrology medical staff.

Aim: To explore the intention to sign an advance directive and its related factors among nephrology medical staff.

Methods: A cross-sectional and correlational design was used. This study recruited 160 nephrology medical staff. Data were analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Science 21.0 for Windows.

Findings: The results found that the longer someone has worked as part of the nephology medical staff, the more knowledgeable they were about an advance directive. This led to them being more likely to want to sign an advance directive for themselves.

Conclusion: In order to improve the knowledge and awareness of advance directives among nephrology medical staff, hospital managers should provide continuing education on this topic.

Background: Dyspnoea, a commonly reported symptom among patients with cancer, necessitates the need for appropriate non-pharmacological interventions for its management and suitable assessment scales.

Aims: To explore the nursing interventions and assessment scales for managing dyspnoea in patients with cancer receiving palliative care.

Methods: Systematic review. Five databases (CINAHL Complete, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) were searched, and seven studies were identified. Only studies that comprised randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental settings were included.

Findings: Nursing interventions, that support a patient's physical breathing and mental functioning, are effective in managing dyspnoea. It is crucial to use both subjective and physical assessment methods to accurately measure the outcomes of these interventions.

Conclusion: These interventions have been proven to be effective, with outcomes centred on changes in physiological measurements and patients' subjective expressions.

Background: Brain tumours are the ninth most common cancer in the UK, and account for 3% of all new cancer cases.

Aim: To understand the impact of living with a primary brain tumour and identify adjustments that patients make in order to cope with their condition. This also encomapsses the impact of interventions like support groups in terms of care and therapeutic value.

Methods: After ethical approval, a qualitative approach was employed, which set out to interview 11 adult patients living with primary brain tumours. The interviews were conducted face-to-face and were semi-structured interviews. Interview data were coded and thematic analysis used.

Findings: Four themes were developed, namely: adjustment; loss of independence; support; and health and symptoms.

Conclusion: Living with a brain tumour leads to an inevitable adjustment to maintain day-to-day life. The findings suggest there are a number of adjustments that patients make to maintain some independence. Many people valued the support they received from support groups, while others felt that the support they received was inadequate. The mandatory loss of a driving licence for people in the UK was the most concerning. Its removal led to a loss of confidence and made them immediately dependent on others for travel. While support was provided, there was an apparent omission in the provision of psychological support. Oncology and palliative care nurses are in key positions to explore psychological concerns and offer tailored support.

Background: Psychological, social and spiritual needs are often unmet during the care of patients with cancer in Taiwan.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to confirm the spiritual care models including the spiritual distress symptoms (SDS), spiritual distress symptoms interventions (SDSI), and spiritual distress outcomes criteria (SDOC) of patients with cancer in the initial, relapse and terminal stages.

Method: This cross-sectional survey collected data from 150 professional nurses about their perceptions of the SDS, SDSI and SDOC for patients with cancer.

Results: The significant total effects of SDS on SDOC by SDSI of the patients with cancer in the initial, relapse and terminal stages were found. Additionally, the direct effects of SDS on SDOC by SDSI of the patients with cancer from the initial, relapse to terminal stage were gradually enhanced.

Conclusions: The relationship between spiritual distress symptoms, interventions and outcomes was significantly higher from the initial to relapse state until at the end of life, based on the perceptions of 150 professional nurses.

Background: Neuromuscular diseases are inherited and the prevalance of neuromuscular disease is estimated to be around 1:2000.

Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted with a qualitative research model. Data were collected from patients with an online survey using the snowball sampling method. The study was conducted in accordance with the STROBE checklist methodology. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyse demographic data, and content analysis was used for qualitative opinions.

Results: Most of the participants were men and their education levels were low. Participants reported experiencing physical and socio-economic barriers to accessing healthcare. Participants also stated that these barriers have worsened since COVID-19.

Conclusions: Patients with hereditary myopathy are stigmatised by society and face different problems depending on the type of disease and level of function. It is recommended that decision-makers enable patients with hereditary myopathy in exceptional situations to access healthcare services and take steps to resolve their problems.

Background: In 2017, a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) triaging role was created within a specialist palliative care community service (SPCCS) in Ireland to enhance the triage process. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the role regarding data collection and reporting. Structured feedback from healthcare professionals (HCPs) was obtained on the effects, challenges and sustainability of this role.

Methods: This study used a mixed-methods approach. A quantitative analysis of referrals triaged by the SPCCS CNS over 2 years (2018-2019) was performed. Two focus groups with HCP's within the same service were completed in January 2020 and one-to-one interviews were conducted. The quantitative and qualitative results were merged using a triangulation protocol.

Results: In 2017, new health service executive (HSE) standards to categorise the urgency of patient assessment were introduced. Quantitatively, an improvement within the triage process was seen, with an increase in compliance with national access standards. In 2018, compliance was 89.1%. In 2019, this was 96.8%, an improvement of 7.7%. A data discrepancy of 9.5% of referrals was noted over the first 9 months of 2018. After this, data documentation and congruency were seen to improve for the final 3 months of 2018 to 100% and remained at 100%. Qualitative data highlighted the benefits and challenges of the Triage CNS role. Mixed-methods correlation revealed corroboration between both using a triangulation protocol.

Conclusion: The triage CNS role was pivotal as an initial point of referral contact. Increased compliance with national access standards occurred resulting in improvements in case and case-load management, information gathering, documentation, data collection and analysis.