• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 1999

This survey was designed to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of physicians and nurses toward cancer pain management in South Korea and to compare physicians' knowledge and attitudes with nurses' Ninety-nine physicians and 152 nurses working at four major institutions in South Korea were included for the study. With the 30 items of the knowledge with true and false answers about cancer pain such as pain assessment(6 items), pharmacokinetics of opioids(8 items), analgesics classification(11 items), and drug administration(5 items), total score of knowledge answered by physicians was 21.40, which was not significantly higher than 20.87 answered by nurses. Rates of the correct answer were more than 70% in both physicians and nurses. Physicians were more knowledgeable in pharmacokinetics and analgesics classification than nurses, while nurses higher only in pain assessment than physicians. Since physicians and nurses could not effectively manage the cancer pain because of inappropriate knowledge, it is important to provide intensive education to physicians and nurses about cancer pain management.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to describe and compare how emergency room (ER) nurses and coroners perceive good death and their attitudes toward death. Methods: A survey was performed with 51 ER nurses in P city and 44 coroners nationwide. Data were collected from October 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANCOVA, Scheffe's test using the IBM SPSS statistics 21.0 program. Results: For the perception of good death and attitudes toward death, coroners scored higher ($3.01{\pm}0.43$ and $2.87{\pm}0.35$, respectively) than ER nurses group ($2.95{\pm}0.40$ and $2.61{\pm}0.33$, respectively), but the differences were not significant. The results of perception of good death and attitudes toward death were not statistically significant between ER nurses and coroners. Conclusion: The study showed no difference between ER nurses' perception of good death and attitudes toward death and those held by coroners. The findings of the study show that it is necessary to offer steady education on death to nurses and coroners to help them build a proper understanding of good death and grow positive attitudes toward death.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.122-133
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• 2014

Purpose: We conducted a descriptive correlational study to determine a relationship between nurses' awareness of good death and attitudes toward terminal care, which in turn could be used as basic data for improvement of the quality of terminal care at geriatric hospitals. Methods: From April 3, 2013 through April 22, 2013, data were collected from 230 nurses working at geriatric hospitals. Results: Nurses' attitudes toward terminal care showed no significant correlation with awareness of good death, but it was positively correlated with a sense of closeness, a subfactor of awareness of good death. There was negative correlation between emotions regarding a deathbed, a subfactor of attitudes of nurses in charge of terminal patients, and awareness of good death. We found positive correlation between terminal care performance and awareness of good death. Conclusion: This study warrants the need for nursing education catered to characteristics of geriatric hospitals and development of diverse intervention strategies to help them to attain a positive attitude toward death by familiarizing themselves with the concept of good death and enhancing job satisfaction.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.136-144
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• 2016

Purpose: To provide practical data for bioethics education, we identified correlations between recognition of good death, attitude towards withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining treatment, and attitude towards euthanasia in nurses. Methods: Using convenience sampling, we recruited 218 nurses who had at least six-month work experience in one of the six general hospitals with 500 or more beds in Seoul, Busan, and Gyeongsang province. All participants understood the purpose of the study and agreed to take part in the study. The research tools used included the Concept of Good Death Measure (CoGD), the measurement tool for attitudes towards withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining treatment (WoMLST), and the measurement tool for attitudes towards euthanasia. Data were analyzed using an Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient using SPSS 21 for Windows. Results: Nurses had normal levels on CoGD, WoMLST, and attitudes towards euthanasia. Nurses' CoGD, WoMLST, and euthanasia scores significantly differed depending on their education level, working period, and the importance of religion to them. A negative correlation was found between the CoGD and WoMLST scores, and WoMLST and euthanasia scores were positively correlated. Conclusion: Nurses should be trained to deal with ethical issues that may arise while caring for terminal patients. It is necessary for nurses to understand the concepts related to CoGD, WoMLST, and euthanasia, and to promote bioethics education with focus on decision-making and problem-solving ability in ethically conflicting situations.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.108-117
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• 2013

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to 1) explore nurses' attitudes toward death, coping with death, understanding and performance regarding end-of-life (EOL) care, 2) describe correlations among the above factors, and 3) determine the factors affecting nurses' EOL care performance. Methods: Study participants were 187 nurses stationed at departments that post higher mortality than others such as the oncology department, intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency department (ED). Data were collected from three urban university-affiliated hospitals. Multi-dimensional measure was performed for study instruments such as "attitude toward death", "coping with death" and "understanding and performance regarding EOL care". Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regressions. Results: First, nurses showed significantly different attitudes toward death by age, religion, work unit and EOL care education. Younger nurses tend to score low on the understanding of EOL care, and ED nurses' score was lower than their peers at the oncology department and ICU. Second, EOL care performance was positively correlated with attitude toward death (P<0.001), coping with death (P=0.003) and understanding of EOL care (P<0.001). Third, nurses' EOL care performance was affected by work unit (P<0.001) and understanding of EOL care (P<0.001). Conclusion: Because nurses' performance was influenced by their work unit and understanding of EOL care, they should be provided with appropriate training to improve their understanding of death and EOL care according to work unit.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.322-330
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• 2016

Purpose: This study investigated long-term care hospital nurses' knowledge and practice of pain management and their attitudes towards the job with an ultimate aim to provide fundamental information for development of a pain education program. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 120 nurses from four long-term care hospitals. Nurses' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management was measured using a tool developed by Watt-Watson. To examine their pain management practice, an instrument was developed based on the pain management guidelines used by the long-term care settings. Results: For pain management knowledge, the participants gave an average of 26.2 (${\pm}13.10$) correct answers out of 40 questions. The most frequently missed question was one about subjectivity of pain, "Patients' physiological and behavioral reactions to pain hint at the presence and intensity of pain" (89.2%), and 56.7% of the nurses believed that increasing tolerance for a narcotic analgesic means addiction. Regarding attitudes towards and practice of pain management, 80.2% of the nurses used placebos to patients who complain about pain often. Conclusion: This study revealed poor level of pain management knowledge of and attitude among long-term care hospital nurses. This might negatively affect their pain management practice. From the educational perspective, nurses should be provided with education on pain management education with emphasis on the nature of pain and misuse of placebo drugs.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.155-161
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• 2012

Purpose: In this study, we evaluated the effects of training for survival prediction of terminally ill patients in terms of medical professionals' confidence, accuracy and knowledge of survival prediction. Methods: Twenty-nine participants completed a self-administered questionnaire where they scored their confidence, accuracy and knowledge of survival prediction before and after the training session. The training was provided in July 2009 at a university hospital located in Gyeonggi province, Republic of Korea. The participants were instructed by a professor of family medicine specialized in hospice palliative medicine to predict survival of a case using the palliative prognostic score and objective prognostic score. The training was provided in the form of a PowerPoint presentation for 40 minutes. Results: Participants' confidence in survival prediction significantly increased from $4.00{\pm}1.73$ ($mean{\pm}SD$) (0~10, visual analogue scale) to $5.83{\pm}1.71$ after the training (P<0.001). Before training, participant's level of confidence significantly correlated with their age (P=0.04). The training significantly improved the correlation between the confidence level and the number of terminal cancer patients whom they have experienced (P=0.005 before training, P=0.017 after training). Participant's accuracy in survival prediction also significantly improved from 14 of 29 (48%) to 27 of 29 (93.1%) (P<0.001). The change in knowledge of survival prediction was too small to be statistically analyzed. Conclusion: After training, the confidence and accuracy scores significantly improved. Further study with a greater number of participants is needed to generalize this finding.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2015

Purpose: This study is to find relationship between cancer patient's spiritual health and the level of their anxiety and pain. Methods: From April 27 through May 11, 2012, a survey was conducted with 167 cancer patients hospitalized at a university hospital in Busan. Spiritual health was measured by the Spiritual Health Inventory developed by Highfield (1992). The instrument for anxiety measurement was the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory by Spielberger (1975) and that for pain was the Visual Analogue Scale (2009). The association between patients' characteristics and spiritual health, anxiety or pain degree were analyzed using the ANOVA test. The interrelationship between spiritual health, anxiety and pain was analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results: The patients exhibited a moderate degree of spiritual health and anxiety and a mild level of pain. Patients' spiritual health significantly differed by their religion, education, monthly income of the family, illness conditions, physical conditions, metastasis, daily living and support. Their anxiety level was significantly different according to age, religion, education, illness conditions, physical conditions, metastasis, daily living, family/friends' support and use of analgesics. Significant differences were also found in the level of pain according to illness conditions, physical conditions, metastasis, daily living, family/friends' support and use of analgesics. We found a moderately negative correlation between spiritual health and anxiety. Anxiety and pain showed a positive correlation, and spiritual health and pain exhibited a negative correlation. Conclusion: To help cancer patients to manage their spiritual health, anxiety and pain, a program should be developed considering the primary factors discussed in this study.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to comprehensively investigate nursing students' experience of their first encounter with death of a patient during clinical practice. Methods: This study took place from January 27 through March 6, 2012 with eight female senior nursing students enrolled at Pusan National University located in Y city who have experienced patient death. We collected their experience of their first death encounter during their clinical rotation by asking, "What is your first experience of patient's death during the clinical practice?" Husserl's phenomenological approach was applied in this study. Results: In this study, 17 themes, 15 clusters of themes and eight categories were derived. The categories included "Desire to avoid the reality of death", "Powerlessness", "Anticipation for recovery shifted to fear of death", "Various interpretations of death", "Limitations in their nursing practice", "Resentment of lack of nurses", "Longing to better understand death", and "Motivation for inner growth". Conclusion: Through their first encounter with death of a patient, nursing students experienced various emotions and viewed their role as hospice caregiver by projecting themselves as fully trained nurses in future. Participants considered terminal care as a part of nursing care. The result of this study indicates the need to include education of death in the nursing school curriculum.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was undertaken to compare perceived stress and coping patterns, and their effects on depression between cancer patients and healthy adults. Methods: A descriptive design was used with 278 subjects, consisting of 139 cancer patients and 139 health adults, living in an urban area. All participants completed the following prerequisites; Stress Visual Analog Scale, Ways of Coping Checklist (W.C.C.L), Depression Index (CES-D), and Demography and Disease Data Questionnaire. Results: Perceived stress and depression were significantly higher, while wishful thinking was lower among cancer patients than healthy adults, after adjusting for education and family income which were not homogeneous between the groups. Among cancer patients, 20.2% of depression was mainly due to seeking support (10.7%), perceived stress and education, while 30.7% of depression in healthy adults was due to perceived stress, problem solving, and seeking support. Conclusion: These findings suggest that interventions to manage depression in cancer patients should include strategies to best foster positive coping patterns and reduce perceived stress.