Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique
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With an aging population and limited health care resources, reflection on end-of-life care is essential. While terminally ill cancer patients spend much of their last year in the home, the literature reveals that the majority of these patients would also prefer to die at home. Despite patients' and families' cited preference for home deaths, dying at home continues to be infrequent. ⋯ As such, it is difficult to assess where resources are needed in the community. The implementation of a discharge assessment tool for use in the Capital Health Palliative Home Care program may provide insight into potential correlates of home death. Not only providing information on individual patients, the inclusion of such data in the palliative home care database would allow for trends to be monitored over time.
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The purpose of this inventory was to determine what oncology nurses perceived to be the challenges and priorities in pain assessment and management in Canada. It was recognised that there are a variety of practices in Canada, and if we are to establish an educational framework, there is a need to know what some of the issues are and what assessment tools are being used. Sixty-six survey questionnaires were sent to centres with an oncology or palliative care focus. ⋯ The findings of this descriptive inventory of cancer pain assessment and management hold several key implications for future directions of the CANO Pain Initiative. The findings provide further support for ongoing efforts to educate and inform health professionals about the nature of cancer pain and associated assessment and management issues. A number of other issues have been identified with this survey which continues to support the efforts of the CANO Pain Initiative in developing educational modules, comprehensive care plans and practical ways to document pain interventions.
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Chutzpah, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (1996) is a slang term from the Yiddish language which means shameless audacity. Chutzpah has been used to identify people with courage who take on situations that others avoid and somehow achieve the impossible. Tim Porter-O'Grady (1997) recently wrote that management is dead, and has been replaced by process leadership. ⋯ Those points of reference are: principle-centered leadership, integrity and chutzpah. This presentation will focus on examining current thinking, defining key characteristics and attributes, and using scenarios to illustrate the impact of leadership. We, as leaders in oncology nursing, must use chutzpah to make positive change and long-term gains for patient care and the profession of nursing.
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The Palliative Radiation Therapy Rapid Response Clinic now receives referrals from community oncologists and family physicians who regularly send palliative patients to the clinic, as well as direct calls from patients and their families. Patients who responded well to radiotherapy treatment may seek further treatment if they develop other painful metastatic sites. The team receives positive feedback from patients, particularly those who responded to treatment in a very short period of time. ⋯ The gap in cancer care has been filled. Patients with advanced cancer, together with their families, are being served in a prompt and convenient manner. Pain relief is just a phone call away.