Cancer nursing
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Comparative Study
A hospital-based intervention using massage to reduce distress among oncology patients.
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a Swedish massage intervention on oncology patients' perceived level of distress. Each patient's distress level was measured using 4 distinct dimensions: pain, physical discomfort, emotional discomfort, and fatigue. ⋯ This reduction in patient distress was observed regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, or cancer type. These results lend support for the inclusion of a complementary massage therapy program for hospitalized oncology patients as a means of enhancing their course of treatment.
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Taiwanese version of the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI-T) in Taiwanese adolescent cancer patients. ⋯ The alpha coefficient of the symptoms severity and interference subscales demonstrated good internal consistency. There was acceptable test-retest stability of the MDASI-T in 35 adolescents during a 3-day interval. This study provides evidence that the MDASI-T is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring cancer-related symptoms in Taiwanese adolescents with cancer.
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In Dutch healthcare, patients and physicians are responsible for medical end-of-life decisions. These include nontreatment decisions, withholding or withdrawing parenteral hydration and nutrition where the patient can no longer drink or eat, relieving pain and other symptoms with drugs that might shorten life, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. The objective of this study is to investigate the views of nurses on their role with regard to discussing these kinds of decisions, as well as their actual role in the decision-making process. ⋯ Three-quarters of the nurses had been involved in an end-of-life decision-making process in the previous 2 years, mostly by talking with the physician and the patient's family. It is concluded that physicians should discuss these decisions with nurses more often. The finding that characteristics of the nurses influence their role in end-of-life decision-making processes emphasizes the importance of developing mechanisms to ensure that end-of-life decisions are made in a consistent manner and do not depend on the demographic characteristics of nurses.