• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2009

Objectives : The purposes of this study is to estimate the cost of cancer care after its diagnosis and to identify factors that can influence the cost of cancer care. Methods : The study subjects were patients with an initial diagnosis one of four selected tumors and had their first two-years of cancer care at a national cancer center. The data were obtained from medical records and patient surveys. We classified cancer care costs into medical and nonmedical costs, and each cost was analyzed for burden type, medical service, and cancer stage according to cancer types. Factors affecting cancer care costs for the initial phase included demographic variables, socioeconomic status and clinical variables. Results : Cancer care costs for the initial year following diagnosis were higher than the costs for the following successive year after diagnosis. Lung cancer (25,648,000 won) had higher costs than the other three cancer types. Of the total costs, patent burden was more than 50% and medical costs accounted for more than 60%. Inpatient costs accounted for more than 60% of the medical costs for stomach and liver cancer in the initial phase. Care for latestage cancer was more expensive than care for early-stage cancer. Nonmedical costs were estimated to be between 4,500,000 to 6,000,000 won with expenses for the caregiver being the highest. The factors affecting cancer care costs were treatment type and cancer stage. Conclusions : The cancer care costs after diagnosis are substantial and vary by cancer site, cancer stage and treatment type. It is useful for policy makers and researchers to identify tumor-specific medical and nonmedical costs. The effort to reduce cancer costs and early detection for cancer can reduce the burden to society and improve quality of life for the cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2933-2934
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• 2014

Involvement of a multidisciplinary team in cancer care may have added benefits over the existing system of patient management. A paradigm shift in the current patient management would allow more focus on nutritional support, in addition to clinical care. Malnutrition, a common problem in cancer patients, needs special attention from the early days of cancer care to improve quality of life and treatment outcomes. Patient management teams with trained oncology dietitians may provide quality personalized nutritional care to cancer patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.167-170
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• 2002

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.183-187
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• 2012

The importance of palliative care for terminal cancer patients has been emphasized globally. Korea has formulated and implemented its policy for cancer control as it drew up a 10-year plan for cancer patient care. We examined Korea's National Cancer Act and the second 10-year plan for cancer patient care, which are legal grounds for palliative care projects for terminal cancer patients, to check the current status of Korea's efforts to establish a hospice and palliative care system. Institutionalization of hospice and palliative care has been developed within a framework of the national cancer project. Efforts such as expansion of hospice units, experts training and quality improvement should continue after the reimbursement of hospice and palliative care begins in 2013.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.545-552
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a spiritual care training package in maternal caregivers of children with cancer. Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest design consisting of a sample of 42 mothers of children diagnosed as having cancer. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The training package consisted of seven group training sessions offered in a children's hospital in Tehran. All mothers completed the Spirituality & Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) at pre and post test and after a three month follow up. Results: There was significant difference between anxiety and spiritual, religious, Personalized care and total scores spiritual care between the intervention and control groups at follow-up (P<0.001).There was no statistically significant difference in stress and depression scores between the intervention and the control groups at follow-up. Conclusions: Findings show that spiritual care training program promotes spirituality, personalized care, religiosity and spiritual care as well as decreasing anxiety in mothers of children with cancer and decreases anxiety. It may be concluded that spiritual care training could be used effectively in reducing distressful spiritual challenges in mothers of children with cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4961-4964
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• 2013

Greater use of mobile phone devices seems inevitable because the health industry and cancer care are facing challenges such as resource constraints, rising care costs, the need for immediate access to healthcare data of types such as audio video texts for early detection and treatment of patients and increasing remote aids in telemedicine. Physicians, in order to study the causes of cancer, detect cancer earlier, act in prevention measures, determine the effectiveness of treatment and specify the reasons for the treatment ineffectiveness, need to access accurate, comprehensive and timely cancer data. Mobile devices provide opportunities and can play an important role in consulting, diagnosis, treatment, and quick access to health information. There easy carriage make them perfect tools for healthcare providers in cancer care management. Key factors in cancer care management systems through a mobile phone health approach must be considered such as human resources, confidentiality and privacy, legal and ethical issues, appropriate ICT and provider infrastructure and costs in general aspects and interoperability, human relationships, types of mobile devices and telecommunication related points in specific aspects. The successful implementation of mobile-based systems in cancer care management will constantly face many challenges. Hence, in applying mobile cancer care, involvement of users and considering their needs in all phases of project, providing adequate bandwidth, preparation of standard tools that provide maximum mobility and flexibility for users, decreasing obstacles to interrupt network communications, and using suitable communication protocols are essential. It is obvious that identifying and reducing barriers and strengthening the positive points will have a significant role in appropriate planning and promoting the achievements of mobile cancer care systems. The aim of this article is to explain key points which should be considered in designing appropriate mobile health systems in cancer care as an approach for improving cancer care management.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2022

As population aging increases the burden of cancer, the quality of death of patients with cancer is emerging as an important issue alongside their quality of life. To improve the quality of death, it is necessary to prepare for death, allowing patients to die comfortably and with dignity at the end. Considering these issues, I aim to discuss the practical aspects of notifying the patient of the terminal phase of cancer and planning for end-of-life care (i.e., advance care planning). When cancer treatment that can extend the patent's lifespan becomes difficult, the patient enters a treatment transition period. Treatment is shifted from life-prolonging care to life-enhancing care, and end-of-life care must be well planned. Medical providers often worry too much about whether the patient will be disappointed or psychologically traumatized when notified of the terminal phase of their cancer, thus delaying plans for end-of-life care. In fact, patients can accept their condition and prepare for end-of-life care better than we expect. During the treatment transition period, notification of terminal status should be given, and a well-prepared advance care plan should be established early when the patient has decision-making ability. In addition to conveying information, it is always necessary to be sensitive to whether the patient and caregiver understand the information and respond to their emotions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6339-6345
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• 2015

Background: Assessment of supportive care needs of cancer survivors and identifying factors affecting such needs is important for implementation of any supportive care programs. So, the aims of present study were to investigate the supportive care needs of Iranian cancer survivors and relationships with social support. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study two hundred and fifty cancer survivors participated via convenient sampling methods. The Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used for data collection. SPSS software was applied and univariate regression was used for examine relationships of supportive care needs with social support. Results: Participants demonstrated many unmet supportive care needs, especially in health system and information and psychological domains. In addition, participants reported that family members and significant others were their main source of support. Also, social support has a significant correlation with all domains of supportive care needs. Conclusions: There is an indispensable need for establishment of supportive care programs for Iranian cancer survivors. In addition, family members of family members of such survivors are an important resource to help develop such programs.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2020

Purpose : This study aimed to explore and describe good nursing experiences of patients with cancer. Methods : Data were collected using individual in-depth interviews with 15 males and 8 females who were hospitalized in a Korean cancer hospital. The transcribed script was analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Results : As a result, three theme clusters and nine themes were identified. The three theme clusters were as follows: "being kind and expert in every step along the cancer care trajectory," "taking an omnipotent mediator role supporting patients' well-being," and "providing professional care touching patients' mind and body." Three themes were assigned to each cluster to illustrate the given phenomena. Conclusion : Cancer patients wanted considerate understanding and sincere care from nurses while they experienced physical and emotional suffering owing to the cancer, treatment trajectory, and hospital system. To improve the quality of nursing care for cancer patients, patient-centered care combined with nurses' expertise in oncology care must be provided based on the insights from our study's findings.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to compare medical cost of hospice care and that of conventional care during the last year of life, and identify factors that influenced the cost. From January to August 2003 592 terminal cancer patients receiving care from 5 hospice care units and 2 hospice care teams in general hospitals were enrolled to case group. Two hundreds and seventy two terminal cancer patients receiving conventional care from 7 general hospitals were enrolled to hospital-based control group, and 1,636 terminal cancer patients from 122 general hospitals located in same regions with the 7 hospitals were enrolled to community-based control. We used characteristics and medical cost from data of National Health Insurance Cooperation. Total medical cost per beneficiary in cases was about 10 millions won, 14.5 millions in hospital-based controls and 11.1 millions in community-based controls. The hospice care saved $45\%$ over the last year of life compared with hospital-based controls (p<0.0001). Saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving per beneficiary. Hospice care saved $29\%$ of medical cost per hospitalization day compared with hospital­based controls and $17\%$ compared with community-based controls (p<0.0001). Multiple regression analyses showed that hospice care significantly saved the medical cost. This study suggest that hospice care save medical cost compared with hospital-based control and community-based control. Most of saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving of medical cost.