• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe what critical care nurses perceived about life-sustaining treatment at end of life. Methods: A qualitative content analysis method was utilized. The unit of analysis was interview text obtained from fifty critical care nurses of a general hospital. Results: Seven categories in two content areas were abstracted. In the negative perception area, the following five categories were abstracted: patients' suffering, dying with damaged dignity, patients' isolation from family members, regret about choosing life-sustaining treatment, and family members' burden. In the positive perception area, the following two categories were abstracted: willingness to sustain life and duty as family members. Conclusions: Nurses have better competencies pertaining to understanding patients' responses and suffering than any other health care professions do. Nurses should play an important role in advocating for patients and their family in the process of end-of-life care decision making.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.301-310
• /
• 2019

This study aims to examine eligibilities, services and delivery of services for the current end-of-life care and analyze the quality control of services for end-of-life care. We analyzed the literature and laws on end-of-life systems in Korean and the United States. Current end-of-life care, hospice and palliative care in Korea is being provided mainly in hospital setting. Quality control for the services focuses on setting the criteria for structures in hospitals (i.e. staffing, facilities and equipment). Whereas American end-of-life care system has much broader eligibility for service beneficiaries and provides care mostly at home. Also quality control for services includes process (delivering service) and outcomes, such as monitoring performance indicators and consumer's satisfaction. This is linked to annual payment. The comparative analysis findings contributed to give the next direction of current Korean end-of-life care system. It is nessary to establish the better and extensive end-of-life care system in Korea in considering other countries' end-of-life care systems based on more future research.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.111-119
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe end-of-life care stress, compassionate competence, and job satisfaction among nurses caring for cancer patients and to identify the relationship between variables. Methods: The participants comprised 141 nurses at the D cancer center in Busan metropolitan city. Data were collected from October 14 to the 31, 2022. The data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 29.0 program. Results: There was a significantly positive correlation between a participnat's job satisfaction and compassionate competence (r=.45, p<.001), and end-of-life care stress (r=.42, p<.001). Conclusion: Compassionate competence and end-of-life care experience among nurses caring for cancer patients are factors that influence job satisfaction. A program that can improve compassionate competence should be developed to improve job satisfaction.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.30-35
• /
• 2012

Purposes: Most medical schools in Korea do not provide adequate education in end-of-life care. This study was designed to illustrate the need to improve end-of-life care education and to assess the effect of the education on fourth-year medical students' awareness and attitude towards hospice and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Methods: One hundred sixty six fourth-year medical students were surveyed with questionnaires on end-of-life care before and after they received the education. Results: Before receiving the education, students most frequently answered "at the end of life" (33.6%) was appropriate time to write an advance medical directive. After the education, the most frequent answer was "in healthy status" (58.7%). More students agreed to withholding or withdrawing futile life-sustaining treatment increased after the education (48.1% vs. 92.5% (P<0.001) for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 38.3% vs. 92.5% (P<0.001) for intubation and mechanical ventilation, 39.1% vs. 85.8% (P<0.001) for inotropics, 60.9% vs. 94.8% (P<0.001) for dialysis and 27.8% vs. 56.0% (P<0.001) for total parenteral nutrition). Significantly more students opposed euthanasia after the education (46.6% vs. 82.1%, P<0.001). All students agreed to the need for education in end-of-life care. Conclusion: After reflecting on the meaning of death through the end-of-life care education, most students recognized the need for the education. The education brought remarkable changes in students' awareness and attitude towards patients at the end of life. We suggest end-of-life care education should be included in the regular curriculum of all medical schools in Korea.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.194-197
• /
• 2021

End-of-life assessments aim to help dying patients and their families plan clinical interventions in advance and prepare them for a peaceful end of life, in which the patient accepts life and death, and the family accepts the patient's departure. It is important to assess whether death is imminent within a few days, because critical hospice care is provided intensively during that period. The following five changes constitute objective evidence of the end of life: diminished daily living performance, decreased food intake, changes in consciousness and increased sleep quantity, worsening of respiratory distress, and end-stage delirium. As subjective evidence, it is suggested that sensitive perceptions of experienced nurses and the feelings of family members caring for patients should also be considered. When notifying a patient or family members that the end of life is approaching, the members of the multidisciplinary hospice team must communicate with each other, share accurate information, and provide consistent explanations. They must also listen to non-verbal communication in an empathic and supportive manner.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.628-639
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the optimal end-of-life care and well-dying perceived by nurses to provide the optimal end-of-life care for patients and their families. This subjects of the study were 121 nurses working in the ward or intensive care unit of a general hospital in Seoul, and the data collected from April 28 to May 12, 2021 were analyzed. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficients with the SPSS/WIN 27.0 program. The total average of the subjects' perceptions of the optimal end-of-life care was 4.04±0.82 on a five-point scale, indicating the overall level of 'agree' with the optimal end-of-life care. The total average of well dying perceived by the subjects was 3.63±1.14 on a five-point scale, and the most important recognized questions was to die peacefully. Of general characteristics, there was a significant differences on optimal end-of-life care according to age (t=-.97, p=.013). The nurse group in their 30s showed higher consent for end-of-life care than those in their 20s. An analysis of the correlation between the optimal end-of-life care and well-dying showed that there was no significant correlation. This study suggest that education should be provided to raise awareness of end-of-life care for young nurses with low experience.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.197-206
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate end-of-life care preferences of employees working in a university hospital. Methods: Of 650 eligible employees that were approached, 607 employees (386 nurses, 93 physicians, and 128 general staff) completed the Korean version of Preferences for Care Near the End of Life (PCEOL-K). Results: Among 5 dimensions of the PECOL-K, "Pain" was the most preferred care dimension and "Decision making by health care professional" was the least preferred care dimension. The item that received the highest mean score was "I want to let nature guide my dying and I do not want my life to be artificially prolonged in any way", and the lowest item was "I want health care providers to make all decisions about my care". As preferred care near the end of life, nurses gave lower scores to the life sustaining treatment and decision making by health care profession than physicians and general staff. Compared to physicians and nurses, general staff preferred the decision making by health care professional and by family. Conclusion: The results show that adequate pain relief is the most preferred care at the end of life among hospital employees and non-medical personnel preferred decision making by others.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.16
• /
• pp.6941-6945
• /
• 2015

Background: Awareness and attitudes of nurses regarding end of life care are important factors in providing hospice care. In an extensive literature review, we found no related articles investigating Iranian nurses awareness and attitudes about providing such care. Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the awareness and attitudes of Iranian nurses in providing hospice care. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, 240 nurses employed in six educational centers were selected by non-randomized stratified sampling. The data collection instruments included an awareness test and attitudes regarding providing end of life care in hospice questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation tests. Results: The nurses' awareness score was 14.3 out of 29 and 55.7% of them stated that they had not received any education in providing end of life care. Also, by obtaining the score of 91.7 out of 120 the attitudes of participants in providing end of life care in hospices were positive. In addition, the highest attitudes score of nurses were in the dimensions of benefits of implementation and health care team. Conclusions: Considering low awareness of nurses about end of life care in hospices, continuing education should be provided for them in this regard. Especially, by considering the positive attitude of nurses, providing such programs could help develop hospice care in Iran.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.141-154
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to identify factors influencing on nursing students' end-of-life care attitude. Methods: A sample of convenience of 147 nursing students, Instrument included death anxiety, death attitude, Self-esteem, Life satisfaction, end-of-life care attitude. Results: A significant negative correlation was found among end-of-life care attitude, death anxiety, death attitude. Death anxiety(${\beta}$=-.392), self-esteem(${\beta}$=.179) & experience of learning(${\beta}$=-.227) about death were significant predictive variables. This variables accounted for 18.7% of the variance in end-of-life care attitude. Conclusions: Based on the Findings of this study, it can be used to develop educational programs for end-of-life care.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.85-92
• /
• 2020

Purpose: In 2018, the Act on Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment for Patients in Hospice and Palliative Care or at the End of Life was implemented and the scope of official recognition for terminally ill patients was expanded. The purpose of this study was to investigate the decisions made by patients with end-stage liver disease about their life-sustaining treatment in a clinical setting. Methods: The subjects of this study were patients with end-stage liver disease hospitalized at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea who wrote physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST). Data collection was done using patients' electronic medical records, and a retrospective analysis of POLST was conducted. Results: Among 101 patients, 18.8% were female and 81.2% were male, and their mean age was 61.8 (±10.61) years. Sixty-three patients (62.4%) wrote their POLST by themselves. Three patients withdrew the POLST, of whom two did so for liver transplantation, and one did so for chemotherapy. Conclusion: This study shows that sufficient consideration of liver transplantation is needed for end-stage liver disease patients before making decisions on life-sustaining treatment. The self-determination of patients must be respected and effective guidelines are urgently needed.