Paper: A Descriptive Study on Nursing Diagnoses and Interventions for End-Stage Cancer Patients (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Monday, 7 July 2008

Chie Ogasawara, PhD, RN , School of Nursing, Hiroshima International University, Hiroshima, Japan

Saori Yoshioka, RN, MSN , Department of Nursing, Hiroshima International University, Kure, Hiroshima, Japan

Tomoko Hasegawa, PhD, RN, MPH , Faculty of Medical Sciences, School of Nuring, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan

Yasuko Kume, RN, PhD , Jikei Gakuen, Osaka, Japan

Edmont C. Katz, MA, TESOL/Linguistics , Faculty of Medical Sciences, Applied Linguistics, University of Fukui, Sakai, Fukui, Japan

Yuki Kumagai, RN, MSN , Department of Nursing, Fukuoka Prefectural University, Tagawa, Fukuoka, Japan

Learning Objective 1: identify physiological symptoms and nursing diagnoses for patients with end-stage cancers.

Learning Objective 2: identify specific nursing interventions to dying cares.

Introduction: It is essential for oncology nurses to understand patients' total pain and to support patients' QOL at the end of their lives. Since the patients with end-stage cancer are suffering tremendous distresses, nurses have to accurately judge nursing diagnoses, and provide appropriate dying cares. It is very important to clarify characteristics of nursing diagnoses and dying cares for these patients.

Purpose: To identify physiological symptoms, nursing diagnoses and specific nursing interventions to dying cares for patients with end-stage cancers.

Methods: Data were collected through a survey from convenience samples of three hundred sixty five registered nurses who regularly provided direct patient cares for patients with end-stage cancers in Japan. The questionnaire consisted of nurses' demographic data and 3 lists: a) physiological symptom list selected from Carpenito's Handbook (Carpenito-Moyet, 2006), b) NANDA-I nursing diagnosis (ND) list, and c) dying cares list selected from NIC book (Mccloskey & Bulechek, 2004). Nurses were asked to specify frequency of stating each of the patient symptoms, NDs, and dying cares on the lists. Frequency of each item was stated a five Likert Scale. Results: Frequently stated patients' physiological symptoms were respiratory failure, hemorrhage, malnutrition, anemia, and ileus. The frequently stated nursing diagnoses were Chronic pain, Activity intolerance, Acute pain, Anxiety, Impaired skin integrity, and Fatigue. The nursing diagnoses that induced dying cares were Death anxiety, Decisional conflict, Anxiety, Risk for aspiration, and Caregiver role strain. The dying cares for these nursing diagnoses were “Communicate willingness to discuss death”, “Facilitate obtaining spiritual support for patient and family”, “Include the family in care decisions and activities, as desired”, and “Monitor mood change”.

Conclusion: These results indicated that nursing diagnoses stated for patients with end-stage cancer were appropriate to support patients' QOL at the end of their lives.

See more of: POSTERS: End-of-Life / Palliative Care
See more of: Research Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters