International Journal of Palliative Nursing

BACKGROUND: Physical activity can assist people with life-limiting conditions to maintain their wellbeing and quality of life. AIMS: To explore the views of clinical nurse specialists (CNS) working in community palliative care towards the role of physical activity for people with life-limiting conditions, and to explore the physical activity needs of patients with life-limiting conditions identified by CNSs. METHODS: A purposive sample of CNSs working in community palliative care received an anonymous online survey via email...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Research exploring nurse-parent relationships in children's hospices is rare. AIM: To investigate how children's hospice nurses manage emotional labour and professional integrity in their long-term relationships with parents. METHODS: A purposive sample of six children's nurses, from hospices across England, recorded audio diaries and participated in telephone interviews. Narratives were thematically analysed. FINDINGS: Three overarching, cross-cutting themes were identified-purposeful positioning; balancing personability and professionalism; coping with and counterbalancing emotional labour...

BACKGROUND: Patients in intensive care units need full nursing care due to the high mortality rate. However, some aspects of nursing care can be forgotten. AIMS: To investigate the quality of death and dying and its association with aspects of missed nursing care, alongside the overall perception of nurses in intensive care units about factors associated with missed nursing care. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used a census sampling method of 105 nurses working in intensive care units...

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty is the inability to define the meaning of illness-related events, which may result in anxiety, depression, poor coping, the self-perception of being a burden and low quality of life. Uncertainty among Thai patients with advanced-stage lung cancer (ASLC) has not been well documented. AIMS: To assess uncertainty in patients with ASLC. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Data were collected from 60 patients with ASLC at a university hospital...

BACKGROUND: A global COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020. AIM: To explore COVID-19's impact on one specialist community palliative care nurse (SCPCN) team 8 months after the first COVID-19 wave in the UK. METHOD: The Gibbs Reflective Cycle was used. FINDINGS: This SCPCN team described the COVID-19 pandemic as the most difficult and challenging time experienced at work, due to the increased workload and having to provide unsustainable levels of support for patients and their families...

BACKGROUND: A cancer diagnosis has a significant impact on a person's life, both physically and emotionally. However, the oncology patients' QoL (QoL) at different stages of the disease has been under investigated. AIM: To assess and compare the QoL in three groups of oncology patients. METHODS: A comparative study was carried out in an outpatient care service at a public hospital in the state of São Paulo. Data collection involved the use of the Palliative Performance Scale and the McGill QoL Questionnaire...

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a common life-limiting disease. A destination therapy for people who will not have a heart transplant is a left ventricular assist device. AIMS: To discover how patients who have a left ventricular assist device for destination therapy make decisions about their healthcare after implantation of the device. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design with semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 participants who are living with a left ventricular assist device for destination therapy...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Education of patients with cancer and patient self-management allow better clinical outcomes using e-health or mobile health applications. AIMS: To develop a mobile application to increase the physical and psychosocial adaptation for patients with gynecological cancer who are receiving chemotherapy and to investigate the effectiveness of the mobile application. METHODS: This study was planned as a parallel, single-blind, pre-post test randomised controlled experimental study in which two groups (intervention-control) will be compared...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the usual provision of healthcare, changing models of care, clinical loads, service provision and patient behaviour. AIMS: This study assesses the impact of COVID-19 on community and inpatient palliative care service provision. METHODS: A retrospective audit and comparison of service use conducted over two defined periods, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020. FINDINGS: The community palliative care service had a 9% increase in referrals, with a lower proportion of referrals (2...

BACKGROUND: Chemosensory changes that occur during chemotherapy can significantly impact food enjoyment, quality of life and recovery. AIM: To investigate chemosensory changes reported by oncology patients during chemotherapy. METHODS: A mixed-method cross-sectional study design was used to explore 100 cancer patients' experiences of chemosensory changes during chemotherapy. All patients completed a questionnaire assessing their taste and smell preferences...

BACKGROUND: Most people with cancer experience pain caused by the disease and treatment. AIMS: To describe the experience of cancer pain of South African patients. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive design was used; 20 (n=20) participants were purposively selected and in-depth interviews were conducted. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse the data. FINDINGS: Two themes and five subthemes were identified. The themes were pain as a unique multi-dimensional experience, and that the unmet needs of the patient can influence their experience of pain...

BACKGROUND: Advance care planning enables people to record their future health and care wishes and appoint someone as an advocate. An advance directive can be made in the event that a person is incapacitated, so that their wishes are still upheld. The beliefs of the nephrology team might affect patients' choices and willingness to sign an advance directive. To increase the number of dialysis patients who have signed an advance directive, it is necessary to educate the nephrology medical staff...

Synopses of a selection of recently published research articles of relevance to palliative care.

BACKGROUND: Dyspnoea, a commonly reported symptom among patients with cancer, necessitates the need for appropriate non-pharmacological interventions for its management and suitable assessment scales. AIMS: To explore the nursing interventions and assessment scales for managing dyspnoea in patients with cancer receiving palliative care. METHODS: Systematic review. Five databases (CINAHL Complete, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) were searched, and seven studies were identified...

BACKGROUND: Brain tumours are the ninth most common cancer in the UK, and account for 3% of all new cancer cases. AIM: To understand the impact of living with a primary brain tumour and identify adjustments that patients make in order to cope with their condition. This also encomapsses the impact of interventions like support groups in terms of care and therapeutic value. METHODS: After ethical approval, a qualitative approach was employed, which set out to interview 11 adult patients living with primary brain tumours...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.