International journal of palliative nursing最新文献

Background: Undergraduate nursing students spend a significant amount of time in clinical placements where they are involved in care at the end of a person's life and care after death. While their role is to provide compassionate care, some students feel wholly unprepared.

Aims: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore student nurses' experiences of care in death, dying and post death care, and to explore how students can be better prepared to provide such care.

Methods: This is a qualitative descriptive study that is concerned with the subjective reality of participant's experiences.

Findings: Six themes were developed from the analysis: first encounters with death and dying; preparedness; mentoring and support received; the caring role; striving to cope; working with families and working through COVID-19.

Conclusion: Students described their experience of placements in end-of-life care as challenging, yet were also able to adopt ways to develop as compassionate practitioners.

Background: Nurses have a crucial role in identifying spiritual needs and providing spiritual care to patients living with cancer.

Aim: This study evaluated Iranian oncology nurses' spiritual care competence and its relationship with job satisfaction and moral distress.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 280 Iranian oncology nurses in 2020 using four questionnaires: demographic questionnaires, the Spiritual Care Competence Questionnaire (SCCQ), the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and the nurses' Moral Distress Questionnaire (MDS-R).

Findings: The mean scores indicated a medium to high Spiritual Care Competence (SCC), mild to moderate moral distress and high job satisfaction. There was a positive correlation between SCC and external job satisfaction (r=184, p<0.05) and a negative correlation between SCC and moral distress (r=-0.356, p<0.05).

Conclusions: SCC diminishes with decreasing external job satisfaction and increasing moral distress. To improve the SCC of nurses working with patients living with cancer, it is recommended that nursing managers and policymakers revise the organisational policies to tackle the obstacles and consider the related factors to provide an ethical climate, implement quality spiritual care and increase job satisfaction.

Background: Improving the organisational aspects of the delivery of palliative care in order to support patients throughout their disease trajectory has received limited attention.

Aim: To investigate the opportunities and barriers related to organising palliation for people with terminal cancer and their families.

Methods: An explorative interview study was conducted among 31 nurses and three physicians concerning an intervention facilitating a fast transition from treatment at a cancer centre at a university hospital to palliation at home. A thematic analysis was conducted.

Findings: This article presents three out of seven themes: 1) improvement in the cessation of antineoplastic treatment in palliation; 2) improvement in organisations delivering palliation; and 3) improvement in multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration.

Conclusions: The results demonstrate the demand for flexible, family-centred and integrated palliation at all levels, from communication and the collaborative relationship between healthcare professionals and families to service sectors.

Background: Palliative chemotherapy uses systemic antineoplastic agents to treat an incurable malignancy. The results of cancer treatment need to be measured in terms of what physical and psychological limitations it brings to the patient. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate and establish the impact of the disease and its treatment on the patient's quality of life.

Objective: To evaluate the quality of life of cancer patients undergoing palliative antineoplastic chemotherapy.

Method: A cross-sectional study with quali-quantitative unfolding. Three research instruments were applied: sociodemographic and clinical data; European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30); interview script with predefined open questions.

Results: The quality of life of the participants was considered good. Fatigue and financial difficulty were the main factors that interfered in daily activities. Three analytical categories emerged from the content analysis of the interviews: communication between the health team and the patient; patient's perception of their health/disease; concerns vs prospects.

Conclusion: The evaluation of quality of life for people who are at the end of life needs to balance technological and therapeutic advances, alongside aspects such as the perspective of these patients and the context of their lives.

Background: Effective communication as a key component of palliative care requires sufficient knowledge and experience to make nursing interventions successful.

Aim: This quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the COMFORT communication model as an intervention to improve student nurses' communication skills while they are under clinical training in specialist palliative care inpatient units.

Methods: The population sample included 86 student nurses who were randomly assigned into two groups of 40. The intervention group received training on communication skills using the COMFORT communication model. Nine lectures were delivered online or offline; the lectures lasted between 25 to 60 minutes. The control group received the conventional educational programme about communication with patients and families, according to the curriculum of the bachelor's degree in nursing. Data were collected using the Communication Skills Questionnaire and Communication Skills Attitude Scale and analysed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics 22.0.

Results: The findings showed that, after the implementation of COMFORT communication model, there was a statistically significant difference in communication skills between the intervention group (122.95±9.36) and the control group (110.1±8.92). There was also a significant difference in attitudes toward communication skills between the intervention group (90.25±8.86) and the control group (90.85±9.15) (P=0.0001). The findings of the study revealed that the COMFORT Communication model created significant statistical differences in the student's attitude, knowledge and communication skills.

Conclusion: Novice nurses sometimes struggle with the level of communication skills needed when caring for patients with an end-stage illness. The implementation of the COMFORT communication model significantly improved communication skills and attitudes toward communication. Due to the need to establish effective communication as the core of nursing practice, the implementation of this training programme is recommended for students and qualified nurses, particularly when providing palliative care.

Background: Caregivers of cancer patients experience a variety of challenges caused by the prolonged burden of care. Many of these caregivers do not have the necessary knowledge, skills and caring ability to fulfil their caring role. Therefore, healthcare providers should support them in learning to provide high-quality care. Evaluating caregivers' ability will be the first step of this supportive programme.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the caring ability of the caregivers of cancer patients and its related factors.

Methods: This descriptive correlational study was performed with 271 caregivers of cancer patients who were selected through convenience sampling conducted from July to December 2021 in selected hospitals in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. The data were collected using the caring ability of family caregivers of patients with cancer scale (CAFCPCS), which was developed by Nemati et al (2020). In addition, the stability reliability coefficient was calculated to be ICC=0.93. Data analysis was performed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 26), using descriptive and inferential statistics and correlation coefficient tests at a significance level of 0.05.

Results: The mean score for the caring ability of the family caregivers of cancer patients in this study was 91.86±7.59. The mean total score of caring ability scale had a statistically significant correlation with the type of cancer and the duration of patient care (P-value=0.05).

Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrated that the family caregivers of cancer patients do not have the necessary knowledge and awareness to perform their caring role effectively. Therefore, it is recommended to empower caregivers and use strategies to improve their trust, especially in caregivers who oversee patient care for a significant period of time.

Background: The participation of family members in inpatient palliative care has been shown to be meaningful; it contributes to the wellbeing of the patient. Even so, little is known about the perspectives of family members regarding their participation in this type of care.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe participation in inpatient care from the perspective of family members of palliative care patients.

Method: This study involved semi-structured individual interviews with family members (n=19) of patients receiving inpatient palliative care, as well as inductive thematic analysis.

Findings: Four main themes describing the family members' perspectives of their participation in inpatient palliative care were identified: family members attending to everyday activities, importance of participation to family members, family members providing emotional support to patients and the role of family members in discussions and decision-making processes concerning patient care.

Conclusion: Family members participate in inpatient palliative care in different ways. Participation was experienced as important to patients and family members, and some family members felt that participation may have supported their coping process.