Cancer nursing
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Coping strategies may be important factors influencing quality of life (QOL), depression, and hopelessness. However, most studies on this issue were performed in patients still undergoing anticancer treatment. Unknown is which coping strategies are of importance for palliative-cancer patients who no longer receive treatment. ⋯ The observed relations between coping strategies, QOL, depression, and hopelessness give room to cognitive-behavioral nursing interventions. Specific attention is needed for differences in coping strategies between curative and palliative patients.
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Decisions for the type of palliative care are affected by multiple factors. Currently, most patients die without palliative care, and hospice patients receive only a brief period of services before death. ⋯ Hospice care in Taiwan should provide more services and facilities specific for sex (female) and tumors (head and neck).
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Comparative Study
Characteristics of the nighttime hospital bedside care environment (sound, light, and temperature) for children with cancer.
Children with cancer must cope not only with their disease and its treatment but also with the environment in which treatment is given. The intensities of sound and light levels required to perform necessary patient care may result in a disruptive nighttime care environment. ⋯ Efforts are needed to identify modifiable sources of nighttime sound and develop interventions to reduce nighttime sound. Collaborative efforts to organize clinical care to minimize nighttime disruptions may lead to reduced bedside sound levels.
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Comparative Study
Differences in pain location, intensity, and quality by pain pattern in outpatients with cancer.
Pain pattern represents how the individual's pain changes temporally with activities or other factors, but researchers have studied less the pattern of pain than its location, intensity, and quality parameters. ⋯ Nurses or clinicians who are taking care of patients with cancer should recognize that pain patterns are associated with pain location, intensity, and quality.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Improving hospice outcomes through systematic assessment: a clinical trial.
Systematic assessment is vital to palliative care, but documentation confirming completion of systematic assessment in hospice settings is often inadequate or absent. ⋯ Systematic assessment of depression is needed in hospice patients. No caregiver variables changed, which may indicate a need for a focus on caregivers.