• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.216-222
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was performed to identify the symptoms and care needs of home-based cancer patients in Korea and to add to the scarce literature on this topic. Methods: Data were collected from patients who subscribed to home-based cancer care services in Jinju. Assessments were performed by nurses at the local public health center. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System with a numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to identify symptoms, and a four-point Likert scale was used to assess psychological, social, and spiritual needs. Results: Cross-sectional data were collected in October 2013. A total of 209 patients participated and their median age was 65 years (range, 17~89 years). Most patients were diagnosed in the early stage of cancer (n=188); only 19 patients were diagnosed in the advanced stage. More than half the patients lived alone (n=115, 55.0%) and took care of themselves (n=128, 61.2%). Anorexia and fatigue were the most common symptoms (median NRS, 5 and 4, respectively). Patients needed economic support the most, whereas spiritual care was least needed (n=138 [67.3%] vs. n=128 [62.1%], respectively). Conclusion: Patients who signed up for home-based cancer care services in Jinju are struggling with a financial issue and physical symptoms. A customized approach is needed to improve the quality of the home-based care services.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.480-494
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• 2008

Purpose: The study was to got basic data on the well-being of middle-aged people concerning their preparation for their upcoming old age and their quality of life. Methods: The subjects were 440 people aged between 40 and 59 living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Results; First, Physical Preparation for old age was affected by religion, children, health, monthly income, and economical status, and these factors were shown statistically significant. Emotional preparation and spiritual Preparation were also related to the above-mentioned factors. Secondly, in the subjects' mental picture, a nursing home was a place for the aged without anyone who is going to take care of them and without abilities to care of themselves. Preference for nursing home was based on two factors. i.e., nursing and treatment care. and the cost was about one million won per month. Also they wanted that the government should pay a certain amount for private users. Conclusion: Therefore, people should lead a life of good health-related habits along with economical preparation for their old age.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1081-1083
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• 2014

Malignancy-associated mortality, decreased productivity, and spiritual, social and physical burden in cancer patients and their families impose heavy costs on communities. Therefore cancer prevention, early detection, rapid diagnosis and timely treatment are very important. Use of modern methods based on information technology in cancer can improve patient survival and increase patient and health care provider satisfaction. Robot technology is used in different areas of health care and applications in surgery have emerged affecting the cancer treatment domain. Computerized and robotic devices can offer enhanced dexterity by tremor abolition, motion scaling, high quality 3D vision for surgeons and decreased blood loss, significant reduction in narcotic use, and reduced hospital stay for patients. However, there are many challenges like lack of surgical community support, large size, high costs and absence of tactile and haptic feedback. A comprehensive view to identify all factors in different aspects such as technical, legal and ethical items that prevent robotic surgery adoption is thus very necessary. Also evidence must be presented to surgeons to achieve appropriate support from physicians. The aim of this review article is to survey applications, opportunities and barriers to this advanced technology in patients and surgeons as an approach to improve cancer care.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2013

Purpose: Spirituality is an important domain and is related with physical and psychological symptoms in terminal cancer patient. The aim of this study is to examine how patients' spirituality is associated with their physical and psychological symptoms as it has been explored by few studies. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 50 patients in the palliative ward of a tertiary hospital were interviewed. Spiritual well-being, depression, anxiety and pain is measured by Functional Assessment of Chronic-Illness Therapy-Spirituality (FACIT-Sp), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the Korean version of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI-K). The correlations between patients' spiritual well-being and anxiety, depression and pain were analysed. The association between spiritual well-being and age, gender, palliative performance scale (PPS), religion, mean pain intensity, anxiety, depression were assessed by univariate and multivariate regression analyses. Results: Spiritual well-being was negatively correlated with the mean pain intensity (r=-0.283, P<0.05), anxiety (r=-0.613, P<0.05) and depression (r=-0.526, P<0.05). In multivariate regression analysis, spiritual well-being showed negative association with anxiety (OR=-1.03, 95% CI=-1.657~-0.403, P=0.002) and positive association with the existence of religion (OR=9.193, 95% CI=4.158~14.229, P<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, patients' anxiety and existence of religion were significantly associated with spiritual well-being after adjusting age, gender, PPS, mean pain intensity, depression. Prospective studies are warranted.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.576-584
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to develop an education program for hospice care and to examine the effect of the program. The education program for hospice care was developed based on the philosophy and principle of Hospice and integrated with various professional areas related to the problems with which terminal patients and their family might be associated. The program was continued for 16 weeks and consisted of lectures and practices. The courses of this program were The Concept and Principle of Hospice, The Role of the Hospice Nurse, The Characteristics of Terminal Disease, Physical Care in Terminal Patients, Death Orientation, Psychological care for Terminal Patients, Spiritual care for Terminal Patients, and Care for the Family. To identify the effect of the education program for hospice care, the difference in death orientation of subjects between the pre and post performance of the education program was examined using the t-test. The finding of this statistic indicated that this education program for hospice care was effective in terms of changing the death orientation of subjects with positive direction. The education program for hospice care was performed several times at Kwangrim Hospice Missionary, Chungbuk University Hospital, and Wooam Church. Case studies were reported for a description of content of hospice care experienced by subjects after the performance of education, put this at the beginning 8 the sentence. In conclusion, the education program for hospice care was developed effectively. Therefore, this program should be used to educate and activate the subjects in community to be participants in hospice care.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 1999

Background : In order to improve the quality of life of dying patients, they need to receive not only the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual care, but also systematic and continuous care to die with dignity. However, no adequate medical services are available for these terminal cancer patients. We studied their behavior patterns of health care utilization to understand more of their medical and social needs. Methods : We investigated 108 bereaved families through the telephone interview with structured questionnaires. They were randomly selected through the retrospective chart review of the terminal patients who passed away due to cancer. Results : Most of the terminal cancer patients received their care from proper medical services including admission to hospital (45.4%), outpatient clinic (22.2%), emergency room (16.7%), and oriental medicine (12.0%). But during the terminal phase of their illness, 32.4% of patients never received medical care including oriental medicine, and 28.7% received alterative natural care. 26 bereaved families (24.1%) pointed out the indifference of medical staff as a problem receiving proper hospital care, and 22 (20.4%) emphasized emotional strain of their helplessness with the patients' suffering as a problem of caring at home. Over 90% suggested availability of continuous care, hospice care, home care, and 24 hour telephone service to be improved. Conclusions : Due to various reasons, adequate medical care is not delivered to the terminal cancer patients in our present medical system. These problems can be approached with the establishment of proper education and medical delivery system. The role of comprehensive medical specialty cannot be overly emphasized to accomplish this most effectively.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.391-396
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• 2014

This study was conducted to be helpful to the expansion and development of hospice and to provide the basic data for Hospice palliative care by identifying the general characteristics of curriculum of hospice perception, level of perception, practice experiences, routes, times, meanings, needs, targets, supply, types, organizations, experiences, use of hospice and physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of hospice services. Study tools which were used in this study were composed of three sections. Survey paper is 3-point Likert scale which is composed of 6 questions of general characteristics, nominal scale of 24 questions about hospice perception and hospice service contents. Respondents can reply with 3 answers of Necessary (1), Mediocre (2), and Not necessary (3), in physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects. Score ranges of this tool are from minimum of 24 points to maximum of 72 points and higher scores mean higher perception of Hospice. Hospice is a behavior to take care of terminal patients who are waiting for death and their family and it should be conducted physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually in order that the patients could meet their last moments of life by maintaining a high quality of life, human dignity and peace for the rest of their lives. Hospice could be mentioned to be a comprehensive care to relieve the pains and grieves of bereaved family.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.76-79
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• 2019

Korean Physicians encounter often the patients with cultural syndromes. This paper surveys those cultural syndromes in Korea, contrasted with those in other countries in five different domains; socio-cultural, sexual, psychological, psychosomatic and religio-spiritual. I discovered three natural consequences if not intervened; 1) healed and readjusted, 2) paradigmatically shifted for the better results and 3) mal-adjustment for the worse. In the hope to let the culture shifted toward better one, I propose to allow our Koreans to be educated, inspired by Park Wansoe's novel; 'Dreaming in an Incubator(꿈꾸는 인큐베이터)'.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2003

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of hospice home care on the pain relief and quality of life of terminal cancer patients. Method: Experimental pre and post tests were provided to a single group to see the changes of quality of life of patients who were referred to a hospice home care department after having cancer treatment. They were visited at least 8 times for the duration of 4~6 weeks and were provided a 24 hour phone call service. 41 subjects were transferred to a hospice home care department after being discharged from hospital were selected. Result: 1)The first hypothesis that "the pain score of the subjects after receiving hospice home care would be different from before receiving hospice home care would be different from before receiving hospice home care" which scored 4.06 point at the first test and 3.41 at the second did not statistically show a significant difference(t=1.421 p=1.66), even though the pain score is decreased. 2)The 2nd hypotheses that "the quality of life score of the subjects after receiving hospice home care would be different from before receiving hospice home care" which scored 2.88 point at the first test and 3.39 at the second showed a significant difference(t=-6.759, p=.000) and was supported. Regarding the changes of quality of life score, social aspect(t=-5.745, p=.000), emotional aspect(t=-5.684, p=.000), and spiritual aspect(t=-6.889, p=.000) has significantly been increased, while physical aspect has been more decreased significantly than before the hospice home care is provided(t=4.282, p=.000). Conclusion: It was effective to provide hospice home care in relieving the terminal cancer patients' pain and in improving their quality of life, even though a short term hospice home care for 4-6 weeks was provided.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

This article underscores the importance of integrating comprehensive palliative care for noncancer patients who are undergoing hemodialysis, with an emphasis on the aging populations in Asian nations such as Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and China. As the global demographic landscape shifts towards an aging society and healthcare continues to advance, a marked increase has been observed in patients undergoing hemodialysis who require palliative care. This necessitates an immediate paradigm shift to incorporate this care, addressing the intricate physical, psychosocial, and spiritual challenges faced by these individuals and their families. Numerous challenges impede the provision of effective palliative care, including difficulties in prognosis, delayed referrals, cultural misconceptions, lack of clinician confidence, and insufficient collaboration among healthcare professionals. The article proposes potential solutions, such as targeted training for clinicians, the use of telemedicine to facilitate shared decision-making, and the introduction of time-limited trials for dialysis to overcome these obstacles. The integration of palliative care into routine renal treatment and the promotion of transparent communication among healthcare professionals represent key strategies to enhance the quality of life and end-of-life care for people on hemodialysis. By embracing innovative strategies and fostering collaboration, healthcare providers can deliver more patient-centered, holistic care that meets the complex needs of seriously ill patients within an aging population undergoing hemodialysis.