Cancer is a leading cause of death in Thailand. Thai cancer patients often seek medical treatment while in advanced stages of the disease. This longitudinal qualitative study aimed to describe the suffering that patients with terminal advanced cancer experience in their everyday life. A series of interviews were conducted and patient observation performed with 15 patients with terminal advanced cancer. Thematic analysis was applied and the overriding theme of the end-of-life experiences was living with suffering. Five inter-related sub-themes regarding the experience of suffering were identified in the informants' accounts, including physical symptom distress, feeling of alienation, sense of worthlessness, sense of burden to others, and desire for hastened death. The findings of this study can be of value for health professionals in cancer care in Thailand. Comprehensive end-of-life care programmes are needed to alleviate suffering in this group of patients.
In China, the development of palliative care is challenging because of limited available resources and rapidly increasing demands. The nurses’ competence is a significant element in providing high-quality palliative care. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the palliative care competence among oncology nurses and to examine the relationships between it and palliative care knowledge, attitudes, and workplace learning conditions. A total of 220 nurses with more than 6 months of experience and who worked in inpatient wards were invited to participate in this study. Four questionnaires were administered to collect data—the Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses, the Attitudes Toward Palliative Care Scale, the Workplace Learning Conditions scale, and the Palliative Care Nursing Self-competence Scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations. The moderate level of competence was reported by 212 participants (response rate, 96.36%). The scores were lower in the aspects of competence such as spiritual care and ethical and legal issues. Competence was positively related to workplace learning conditions and knowledge but not attitudes. The results highlighted the necessity of improving the palliative care competence among oncology nurses. The optimization of learning conditions in the hospital is recommended to be a vital force in strengthening competence.
Nurses need to be sensitive toward the religious faiths of their patients and provide culturally appropriate care for them. Nursing interventions to maintain hope and connectedness should be promoted by respecting the patients' expressions of hope and supporting the involvement of family members in end-of-life care.
Background Cancer is a leading cause of death in Thailand. Thai cancer patients often seek medical treatment while in advanced stages of the disease. Despite a recent increase in this attention given to improve end of life care in Thailand, little research has been undertaken to describe the experiences of those who live at the end of life. Aims The aim of this longitudinal ethnographic case study was to explore the experiences of living toward end of life in patients with advanced cancer. Methods Series interviews and participant observation were conducted on 15 patients with terminal advanced cancer and 20 family caregivers. The inductive qualitative analysis was applied. Results The stories of these informants with advanced and terminal cancer reflected the experiences of living with suffering and moving beyond suffering. Sufferings experienced by informants included suffering related to the ill body and suffering related to care. Adopting religious doctrine, being hopeful, and being surrounded by love and care from family helps the informants move beyond and transcend the sufferings. Conclusion The result of this study will be useful for healthcare providers to develop end of life care program in order to improve quality of life of the terminal cancer patients and to promote peaceful death at home.
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