Attitudes of Nurses toward Supportive Care for Advanced Cancer Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how nurses recognize the need for supportive care of advanced cancer patients and to provide preliminary data on how adequate circumstances are to be set up and maintained in Korea. For the purpose of this study, we developed a preliminary questionnaire based on a focus group of 8 nurses run by a clinical psychologist and administered it to 228 nurses in a cancer hospital, over a 3-month period. Participants of this study were nurses with more than 5 years' experience of treating advanced cancer patients. The result showed that 207 respondents (90.8%) agreed that a smooth communication system for treatment taking into account the symptoms experienced by patients and rehabilitation issues was needed. More than 80% agreed that the items needed for an integrated management service for advanced cancer patients should include psychological support, an integrated pain and symptom management, and education for the patient and his or her caregivers. These results strongly suggest that a new system distinct from palliative care or hospices is needed for patients with advanced cancer in Korea.

Does Clinical Experience Help Oncology Nursing Staff to Deal with Patient Pain Better than Nurses from other Displines? Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Amongst Nurses in a Tertiary Care in Malaysia

“…Therefore, most decisions are made without even consulting nurses, who are the main physical caregivers for patients. Clear communication between patients and nurses and nurses with medication prescribers often play an important role in achieving effective pain management and to enhance patients' rapport (Park et al, 2012;Maskor et al, 2013). Therefore, future research may need to reexamine our nurses' attitudes and communication with other medical professionals.…”

Awareness and Attitude of Nurses in Regard to Providing Hospice Care

“…Many patients who suffer from these diseases, cancer especially, are at the end of their life (Dunn et al, 2005) and have many physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs (Khan et al, 2008;Kirchhoff et al, 2012 ;Park et al, 2012;Ezat et al, 2014). So, attention to these patients and their family members is important.…”

Survival Effect of Supportive Care Services for Turkish Patients with Metastatic Gastric Cancer

“…Supportive care is defined as the provision of the necessary services for those living with or affected by cancer to meet their physical, emotional, social, psychological, informational, spiritual and practical needs during the diagnostic, treatment, and follow-up phases, (Park et al, 2012). The supportive care of patients with cancer improves patients' quality of life (Rosenbaum et al, 2004) and increases patients' survival rate (Alfano and Rowland, 2006).…”

“…In addition, they said they were dealing with physical symptoms, such as general pain, fatigue, emesis, and cures for conditions, that is, depression, anxiety, mental distress and delirium. Among them, 74% were satisfied with care for terminally ill patients, but 42% responded they had lack of training to accomplish these (Park et al, 2012).…”

“…In particular, the patients with advanced cancer have to face many problems during the progression of the disease such as pain, fatigue, energy depletion, and loss of appetite, along with physical symptoms of cancer itself. In addition, cancer patients have a variety of psychological symptoms, suggestive of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorder (Park et al, 2012). The prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms are varied according to the reported research by 35-96% for pain, 3-77% for depression, 13-79% for anxiety, 32-90% for fatigue, 10-70% for dyspnea, and 9-69% for sleep disorders (Solano et al, 2006).…”