PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to understand the caring experience of families with terminal cancer patients. METHOD: This was designed to be an inductive and descriptive study. Forty-seven families with terminal cancer patients were interviewed in depth and collected data were examined through content analysis. RESULT: The main categories of difficulties found in this study were "suffering of patient", "emotional suffering of family", "bereavement of patient", "difficulties in coping", "problems in treatment", "incurable situation", "family problems", "relationship with other people", "economic problems", "spiritual problems", "problems in the future", "informing patients of their condition", "preparing death", "emotional unstability", "meaninglessness", "unkindness of medical teams", "poor environment for treatment", "difficulties in hospital environment" and "economic burden". CONCLUSION: The main point found from this result was that families taking care of terminal cancer patients are suffering emotionally from watching the patients' pains and had difficulties in coping with the patients' situation and treatment. In addition, they had negative experiences in medical teams attitude and hospital environment. This result can be used as an important guide for nurses to assess families' needs in the terminal care setting.
Humans ; Terminal Care

Objectives: A cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the relationship of the resident physicians' knowledge, attitudes and practices on end-of-life and demographic features, medical specialty, formal training on care of the dying, personal and clinical experience on care of the dying patients. Methods: A total of 67 resident trainees participated in the study. They were asked to answer the K-A-P questionnaire on end-of-life care. The data gathered were tallied using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS 10.0 statistical software. Results: More than half of the respondents have adequate knowledge (52.2 percent), positive attitude (53.7 percent), and have appropriate practices (53.7 percent). Nearly half (49.3 percent and 44.8 percent) of the resident physicians regarded themselves as satisfactory in knowledge and attitudes, nearly half (44.8 percent) and a third (38.8 percent) of the residents respectively assessed themselves as fair and satisfactory in end-of-life care practices. Using chi-square test, the relationship between the different physicians' characteristics and their knowledge, attitudes and practices was assessed. Males had adequate knowledge (68.2 percent) than females (44.4 percent) (p=0.068). More married individuals (77.7 percent) had positive attitude and appropriate practices than single individuals (50.0 percent) (p=0.167). Nearly two-thirds (63.3 percent) of third year and higher residents had positive attitude and appropriate practices than first and second year residents (45.9 percent) (p=0.156). More than two-thirds (66.7%) of those with formal training had more appropriate practices than those without formal training (46.5 percent) (p=0.113). No significant association between end-of-life care knowledge-attitudes-practices and these aforementioned physicians' characteristics was observed. In all other characteristics, relationship was far from being statistically significant. For knowledge, ENT-HNS, Family Medicine and Surgery residents had the most residents with adequate knowledge. The difference in the proportion of residents' knowledge across medical specialties was statistically significant (p=0.055). For attitude, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Surgery had the most residents with positive attitude. The difference though was not statistically significant (p=0.156). For practices, Family Medicine, Child Health and Surgery had the most residents with appropriate practices. Here, the difference was statistically significant (p=0.010). Because of inadequate sample size however, chi-square test for these associations may not be valid. Those with personal experience with death of a loved one or a close friend (61.2 percent) had appropriate practice in end-of-life care than those without (33.3 percent). The difference was statistically significant (p=0.042). More of those with clinical experience on care of dying patients had appropriate practices (59.3 percent) than those without (30.8 percent). The difference was almost statistically significant (p=0.064). Among those residents with more than three years of clinical practice, 81.8 percent had positive attitude compared to only 45.5 percent both for less than two and 2-3 years of clinical practice. The difference likewise was of borderline significance (p=0.097). Lastly, relationship between the physician's own assessment of their knowledge, attitudes and practices and their actual knowledge, attitudes and practices Was also assessed using the same statistical test. Actual and personal assessment of end-of-life care, residents who rated themselves as either having a very satisfactory and satisfactory knowledge, attitudes and practices in end-of-life care had higher proportion of actual adequate knowledge, positive attitude and appropriate practices.
ATTITUDE ; PATIENT CARE ; TERMINAL CARE

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify factors affecting terminal care performance of clinical nurses. METHODS: The participants in this study were 175 nurses working in hospitals in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire and were analyzed with the IBM SPSS WIN 19.0 program. RESULTS: Nurses' terminal care performance was significantly related with suffering experience, empathy ability and caring behaviors. Significant predictors for terminal care performance were their department, empathy ability and caring behaviors. These factors explained 43.52% of the variance in terminal care performance of clinical nurses. CONCLUSION: Our study results suggest that terminal care performance of clinical nurses can be strengthened by improving empathy ability and caring behaviors.
Daegu ; Empathy* ; Nursing Care ; Terminal Care*

Humans ; Palliative Care ; Surgeons ; Terminal Care

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships between death anxiety and terminal care performance of nurses at long term care hospitals. METHODS: Data were collected from 148 nurses working at 12 long term care hospitals in Busan from March 16, 2016 through May 16, 2016. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test and Pearson's correlation coefficient with SPSS 18.0 for Windows. RESULTS: Terminal care performance was positively correlated with anxiety about other people's death (r=0.310, P≤0.001) and that of their own death (r=0.250, P=0.002). CONCLUSION: It appears necessary to develop a systematical educational program for terminal care nurses of to reduce their death anxiety and improve their terminal care performance.
Anxiety* ; Busan ; Long-Term Care* ; Terminal Care*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to explore how nurses' attitude toward dignified death and moral sensitivity affect their end-of-life care performance. METHODS: Study participants were 172 nurses who work at university hospitals in a metropolitan city in Korea. Data were collected from June 20 through August 13, 2012 using the Dignified Death Scale, Moral Sensitivity Scale, and End-of-Life Care Performance Scale. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 19.0 program. RESULTS: Factors affecting nurses' end-of-life care performance included moral sensitivity, dignified death and education level. CONCLUSION: Moral sensitivity, dignified death and education level should be considered when developing an educational program for nurses' end-of-life care performance.
Education ; Hospitals, University ; Korea ; Terminal Care

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between death anxiety, terminal care stress, and job satisfaction of new nurses, as well as to identify factors affecting job satisfaction using descriptive correlations.METHODS: This study included 143 new nurses who had 3 to 12 months of experience in terminal care. Data were collected from January to February 2018, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé́ test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and hierarchical regression analysis.RESULTS: There was a negative correlation between job satisfaction and terminal care stress (r=−.170, p=.043), while death anxiety and terminal care stress were positively correlated (r=.284, p=.001). The following findings demonstrated a significant effect on job satisfaction: lesser the clinical career experience, the lower the job load causing death anxiety and terminal care stress, and the higher the job satisfaction. Furthermore, the explanatory power of these factors was 15.1%.CONCLUSION: To assist new nurses within three months of joining in clinical adaptation, it is necessary to provide them with appropriate knowledge regarding terminal care through training, and with counseling opportunities for the psychological burdens they experience while caring for dying patients.
Anxiety ; Counseling ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Terminal Care

Background: The Ospital ng Makati is a tertiary government hospital that is currently on its birthing phase of establishing the palliative foundation in the hospital in terms of the handling the terminally ill and dying patients by providing them quality of life while in the hospital and if still possible, to assist the family in the transition to home care. Objective: The objective was to determine the baseline knowledge, attitude and practices of the resident physicians who are undergoing training in the Ospital ng Makati. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the resident physicians of Ospital ng Makati to know the knowledge, attitude and practices with regards to the assessment of their end of life care understanding. A self-administered validated questionnaire was distributed among the participants from a previous study done by Pamplona that was utilized to facilitate the survey. Results: A total of 65 people took part in the study, with a median age of 20 to 39 years old. The majority of the participants were female (40%) and Roman Catholic 60 (92.3% ). The department of Pediatrics had a significant number of participants (24.6%). The University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center had a significant number of the participants 13 (20%). The majority 25. (38.5%) of the respondents are generally first years. The total of 65 respondents resulted to overall response rate of 56.5%. Conclusion The findings demonstrated that knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to palliative care were identified through this cross-sectional report. Interestingly, even though the majority of the participants had no prior exposure or rotation to palliative and hospice care and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the notion of palliative and hospice medicine, they had an appropriate understanding of palliative medicine in general.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Terminal Care ; Knowledge

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions and “a good death” affect attitudes toward terminal care.METHOD: Participants included 109 ICU nurses from three university hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires, and collected data were analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, the Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and a multiple regression analysis (SPSS 24.0 program).RESULTS: Perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions and a sense of closeness (a constituent for the awareness of “a good death”) were positively correlated with terminal care attitudes. The factors affecting terminal care attitudes were a clinical career in ICU (β=.20, p=.035), a sense of closeness(β=.19, p=.041), and the perception of a life-sustaining treatment decision (β=.22, p=.017). This finding indicates that more than 10 years of experience in ICU, a greater sense of closeness, and a higher view of life-sustaining treatment decisions results in more positive attitudes toward terminal care. The explanatory power of these variables on terminal care attitudes was 14% (F=6.84, p < .001, Adj R2=.140).CONCLUSION: A sense of closeness and the perception of life-sustaining treatment decisions were identified as the factors affecting terminal care attitudes. Thus, various programs must be developed to raise awareness among ICU nurses of “a good death” and perceptions of life-sustaining treatment decisions.
Critical Care ; Hospitals, University ; Intensive Care Units ; Methods ; Terminal Care

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to assess needs at each end-of-life care stage and to analyze importance and difficulty of care needs for home care nursing among non-cancer patients. METHODS: We used a retrospective design. Total eligible patients were 117 at the ages of 40 and over, who continuously received home care nursing throughout beginning, stable, and near death stages, and finally died at home from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006. Descriptive statistics, Cochran's Q test, Friedman's test were used for data analysis. RESULTS: In the area of physical care, the care need for 'assistance for activities in daily life' was significantly highest in the beginning stage. The care need for 'aggravation or adverse changes in physical symptoms' was significantly increased in the near death stage. In the area of psychospiritual care, 'family's psychological burden' was revealed as having the highest rate of care needs in the every stage. CONCLUSION: Future intervention should consider assessing care needs in end-of-life care for non-cancer patients who are provided with home care nursing.
Home Care Services ; Humans ; Needs Assessment ; Retrospective Studies ; Terminal Care