Journal of pediatric oncology nursing : official journal of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Jul 2015
Comparative StudyNovice Nurses' Experiences With Palliative and End-of-Life Communication.
Health care providers recognize that delivery of effective communication with family members of children with life-threatening illnesses is essential to palliative and end-of-life care (PC/EOL). Parents value the presence of nurses during PC/EOL of their dying child. ⋯ Audio-taped focus group discussions were reviewed to develop the following 6 theme categories: (a) Sacred Trust to Care for the Child and Family, (b) An Elephant in the Room, (c) Struggling with Emotional Unknowns, (d) Kaleidoscope of Death: Patterns and Complexity, (e) Training Wheels for Connectedness: Critical Mentors during PC/EOL of Children, and (f) Being Present with an Open Heart: Ways to Maintain Hope and Minimize Emotional Distress. To date, this is the first study to focus on PC/EOL communication perspectives of novice pediatric oncology nurses.
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Jul 2015
Rasch Analysis of the Arabic Language Version of the Functional Disability Inventory.
It is important for the responsive and effective treatment of pediatric cancer patients that functional disability is successfully measured, but no measures of functional disability have been validated for use with Arabic-speaking children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric characteristics of the first Arabic translation of the Functional Disability Inventory (FDI). A methodological study limited to the secondary analysis of functional disability data on 62 pediatric patients in Lebanon using the rating scale model and WINSTEPS Rasch analysis software was used. ⋯ Our findings support the construct validity of the FDI-A and acceptable reliability for the 15-item scale, Cronbach α .93 and .85 for 4 of the item subsets we examined. Rating scale categories and the dimensionality of the FDI-A require further examination. The clinical relevance of distinctions between levels of functional disability in children and adolescents with cancer pain remains to be established.
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Jul 2015
Parents' Experience With Their Child's Cancer Diagnosis: Do Hopefulness, Family Functioning, and Perceptions of Care Matter?
This study assessed the experience of parents who have a child diagnosed with cancer and whether parental hope, family functioning, and perceptions of care distinguish those parents who have adapted to the diagnosis versus those who have not adapted. ⋯ By recognizing families who continue to struggle with the diagnosis, nurses may be better equipped to approach families and evaluate their needs, including coping and adaptation. Asking parents about their experience can also lead to more appropriate and timely care and referral and allows nurses to provide care that engenders hopefulness.
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Mar 2015
ReviewBest practice for fever management with intravenous acetaminophen in pediatric oncology.
Intravenous (IV) acetaminophen was introduced in the United States in 2011 for use as an analgesic and antipyretic agent. While no studies have looked at its utilization specifically in the pediatric oncology population, existing literature suggests IV acetaminophen is safe and effective to use in both children and adults. This article aims to review and apply current data in evaluating whether or not children with cancer can safely benefit from its use. This article provides clinical indications, safety and efficacy profiles, and nursing implications along with recommendations for future study regarding the use of IV acetaminophen in this population.
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Jan 2015
Comparative StudyPerception of pain among pediatric patients with sickle cell pain crisis.
Pain related to vasoocclusion is the most common reason for emergency department visits and hospital stays among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease. Using a prospective descriptive design, patients hospitalized with sickle cell pain were asked to complete the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool on each day of their hospital stay, providing data on the location, intensity, and quality of their pain. Data for 82 hospital stays were collected from 40 African American study participants. ⋯ Higher initial pain intensity scores were significantly associated with longer LOS (r = .37; P = .001). Higher initial number of word descriptors was only weakly associated with longer LOS. Neither gender nor age differences were significant for Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool data.