Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing
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Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs · Oct 2020
Challenges in Teaching Palliative Care Module Virtually during COVID-19 Era.
With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the global community, routine activities of universities, offices, and industries have been hindered. People are being forced to rethink the ways of working virtually from home for providing education, business, and health services in this social distancing during the COVID era. ⋯ Although the first experience of online teaching and learning was a successful venture for faculty and students, in a lockdown situation, numerous challenges were also encountered being a lower middle-income country. The issues of electricity shutdown, Internet connectivity, and quality assurance were anticipated on transition to online pedagogy, but backup plans were formed to make execution promising.
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Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs · Jul 2020
Reliability and Validity Testing of the FAMCARE-2 Scale: Thai Translation.
Measuring the satisfaction of family caregivers regarding the palliative care provided to their family members is very important for quality improvement in the palliative care system. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and validity) of the FAMCARE-2 Scale: Thai Translation for measuring family caregiver satisfaction. ⋯ The FAMCARE-2 Scale: Thai Translation was found to be a valid psychometric tool for measuring family caregiver satisfaction within the Thai context of palliative care.
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Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs · Apr 2020
Symptom Clusters and Quality of Life over 1 Year in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy.
Evidence is scant regarding symptom clusters and quality of life (QOL) over 1 year in women who receive adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy (CTX). Our purpose was to identify the prevalence and severity of individual symptoms, symptom clusters, and QOL in women receiving adjuvant breast cancer CTX from baseline over 1 year. ⋯ The symptom experience was dynamic, and symptom clusters changed over 1 year. Despite mild severity, core symptoms and clusters persisted over 1 year, and physical health was below the general population norms. Breast cancer survivors with persistent single and co-occurring symptoms need to be taught to manage the patterns of symptoms over time because they may not resolve by 1 year.
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Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs · Oct 2019
Preoperative Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Outpatient Cancer Surgery.
Our primary research aim was to determine the prevalence of preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing outpatient cancer surgery. Our secondary aim was to examine the association between preoperative anxiety and negative intraoperative and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing outpatient cancer surgery, including increased anesthesia requirements, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), extended overnight stay, total length of stay (LOS), transfer to hospital, surgical complications, and postoperative visits to urgent care centers (UCC). ⋯ Even assuming a causal relationship between preoperative anxiety and postoperative outcomes, preventing one instance of PONV would require treating at least 30 patients for anxiety, and preventing longer-term outcomes such as urgent care visits or readmissions within 30 days would require treating even larger numbers of patients. Future studies should attempt to elucidate the causal pathway between preoperative anxiety and postoperative adverse events in outpatients undergoing outpatient cancer surgery.
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Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs · Apr 2019
ReviewManagement of Immune-Related Adverse Events Associated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: a Minireview of Current Clinical Guidelines.
Successful targeting and inhibition of the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 and programmed cell death-1 protein/programmed cell death ligand 1 immune checkpoint pathways has led to a rapidly expanding repertoire of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of various cancers. The approved agents now include ipilimumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, durvalumab, avelumab, and cemiplimab. ⋯ Herein, we review the mechanisms of irAEs and strategies for management of irAEs and highlight similarities as well as differences among clinical guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and European Society for Medical Oncology. Understanding these similarities and key differences will facilitate the development and implementation of a practice site-specific plan for the management of irAEs.