The Benefits of Face Scale (FS) as a Measure of Fatigue in Cancer Patients-A Clinical Trial for Evaluation of Nurses' Perceptions-
10.2185/jjrm.52.95
- VernacularTitle:がん患者の倦怠感に対しフェイス・スケールを用いた評価の試み―看護師の認識面の変化について―
- Author:
Michiko ISHIHAMA
;
Chiyoko SEKI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine
2003;52(1):95-99
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Purposes: This study was conducted to ascertain the usefulness of Face Scale (FS) as a measuring tool for detemining the degree of fatigue in cancer patients and the course of nursing. The nurses' perceptions of fatigue in cancer patients before and after the installation of FS in two different wards were compared.
Subjects and Methods: A total of 41 nurses working in the Gastrointestinal and the Cancer Wards participated in this trial. They measured the degree of fatigue in cancer patients using FS daily after the routine body temperature check. When the five-month trial was over, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the nurses' perceptions of patient fatigue.
Results: The survey found 65.9% of the nurses thought that it was easier to understand the patient's degree of fatigue when the FS was used. There was no significant difference in perception between nurses in the two wards. The use of FS enabled both nurses and patients to estimate the degree of fatigue objectively and thus mutual understanding between them as to the degree of fatigue was established. Furthermore, an accurate judgment of the degree of patient fatigue contributed to the improvement of the retrospective evaluation of nursing care and an increased consciousness in nurses of the fatigue levels of cancer patients. The application of FS was also thought to contribute to the raising of nurses' awareness of the importance of assessment and evaluation of the patients' conditions.
