• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.743-755
• /
• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and to analyze real conversation about polite behavior of nurses in cancer units. Methods: This study was conducted using a Brown & Levinson(1987) theory to analyze the polite behavior of nurses in cancer units. Five nurses who participated in this research gave permission to be videotaped. The data was collected from January to February, 2006. Results: Polite behavior of nurses in cancer units consisted of greetings, emotional support, open questions and indirect direction. And impolite behavior of nurses in cancer units was using the medical terminology, repetition of direct speech acts and task-oriented conversation. Conclusion: This study suggests polite behavior strategies for effective nursing conversation with cancer patients. Therefore, the findings may provide basic raw materials for educational programmes and intervention studies.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.543-553
• /
• 2002

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare symptoms, medical therapies, and nursing interventions with terminal cancer patients during the last four weeks of their lives in a hospice unit and general units. Method: For the descriptive survey study, data were collected by reviewing the medical records of 243 patients who died of terminal cancer at K hospital in Seoul. The data was analyzed by using Chi-square test and t-test. Result: The study findings are summarized as follows: There were higher frequencies in physical symptoms of constipation, itching sensation, pain, sleeping disturbance, soreness and dysuria for those patients in the hospice unit than those patient in general units. All emotional symptoms were recorded significantly higher for those patients in the hospice unit than those in general units. Regarding the major medical interventions, pain management was used more significantly for those patients in the hospice unit, but antibiotic therapy and resuscitation were used more significantly for those patients in general units. Conclusion: The hospice unit provided more comprehensive nursing interventions including psychological, spiritual, and family cares as well as physiological care for terminal cancer patients. The facts showed that those patients who would need hospice care in general units should be referred to the hospice unit at an appropriate time.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.161-169
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the effect of a Happiness Self-Coaching program for new graduate nurses working in cancer care units. Methods: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest, nonequivalent control-group design was applied to conduct the study. Study participants were new graduate nurses employed within 12 months and working as shift employees at G university hospital, located in J city. A total of 21 new graduate nurses participated in the study, 10 in the experimental group, and 11 in the control group. The happiness self-coaching program was conducted weekly for 70 minutes from February 1 to June 6, 2016 for 6 weeks. The experimental group received the Happiness Self-Coaching program through lectures, presentation, group activities, and strength card play. Data were analyzed by using repeated measure ANOVA and paired t-test. Results: The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher happiness (F=6.82, p=.003) and self-efficacy (F=3.38 p=.045) levels compared to the control group. Conclusion: The Happiness Self-Coaching program was effective in enhancing new graduate nurses' happiness and self efficacy. It is recommended that nursing organizations to apply the Happiness Self -Coaching program to facilitate adaption of new graduate nurses in cancer care units.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.261-265
• /
• 2014

Three-dimensional computed tomography is an effective tool to estimate the liver volume of living donors for the live liver transplantation. When additional operation is required, magnetic resonance imaging is conducted to determine the safety of the donor. This study compared the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography in estimating 3D liver volume of 23 male and 7 female donors who underwent both magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography tests before the transplantation. The analysis was conducted to see whether the liver's estimated total volumes and the left lobe volumes obtained from 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and 3D-computed tomography were identical. Volumes of the right lobe estimated with 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and 3D-computed tomography were compared with the actual volume of the right lobe harvested in the operating room because the volume of the right lobe is an important determinant in the safety of the donor. The total volume of the liver estimated from 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and 3D-computed tomography differed (1238.1904 units and 1402.364 units respectively). The left lobe volume of the liver estimated with 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and 3D-computed tomography also differed (450.530 units and 554.490 units, respectively). The right lobe volume of the liver estimated with 3D-magnetic resonance imaging and 3D-computed tomography were 787.660 units and 847.545 units, respectively, while the actual average right lobe volume of the harvested liver was 678.636 units. 3D-computed tomography has been widely used to estimate the right lobe volume of the donors' liver. However, 3D-magnetic resonance imaging was also very effective in estimating the volume of the liver. Thus, 3D-magnetic resonance imaging is also expected to become an important tool in determining the safety of the donors before transplantation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.3025-3033
• /
• 2016

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative hematopoietic stem cell disorder. Deregulated BCR-ABL fusion tyrosine kinase activity is the main cause of CML disease pathogenesis, making BCR-ABL an ideal target for inhibition. Current tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) designed to inhibit BCR-ABL oncoprotein activity, have completely transformed the prognosis of CML. Interruption of TKI treatment leads to minimal residual disease reside (MRD), thought to reside in TKI-insensitive leukaemia stem cells which remain a potential reservoir for disease relapse. This highlights the need to develop new therapeutic strategies for CML either as small molecule master TKIs or phytopharmaceuticals derived from nature to achieve chronic molecular remission. This review outlines the past, present and future therapeutic approaches for CML including coverage of relevant mechanisms, whether ABL dependent or independent, and epigenetic factors responsible for developing resistance against TKIs. Appearance of mutant clones along the course of therapy either pre-existing or induced due to therapy is still a challenge for the clinician. A proposed in-vitro model of generating colony forming units from CML stem cells derived from diagnostic samples seems to be achievable in the era of high throughput technology which can take care of single cell genomic profiling.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.4341-4347
• /
• 2016

Background: Patient safety is one of the key components of nursing care for cancer cases. Valid and reliable context-based instruments are necessary for accurate evaluation of patient safety in oncology units. The aim of the present study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Patient Safety Violation Scale in medical oncology units in Iran. Materials and Methods: In this methodological study, a pool of 58 items was generated through reviewing the existing literature. The validity of the 58-item scale was assessed through calculating impact score, content validity ratio, and content validity index for its items as well as conducting exploratory factor analysis. The reliability of the scale was evaluated by assessing its internal consistency and testretest stability. Study sample consisted of 300 oncology nurses who were recruited from thirteen teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Results: Sixteen items were excluded from the scale due to having low impact scores, content validity ratios, or content validity indices. In exploratory factor analysis, the remaining 42 items were loaded on five factors including patient fall, verification of patientidentity, harm during care delivery, delay in care delivery, and medication errors. These five factors explained 62% of the total variance. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale and the test-retest interclass correlation coefficient were equal to 0.933 and 0.92, respectively. Conclusions: The 42-item Patient Safety Violation Scale is a simple and short scale which has acceptable validity and reliability. Consequently, it can be used for assessing patient safety in clinical settings such as medical oncology units and for research projects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.347-350
• /
• 2013

The aim of the present study was to determine whether allogeneic red blood cell transfusions showed a deleterious effect and what might be preoperative risk factors for blood transfusion in patients with TNM stage II colon cancer. Total 470 patients who fulfilled inclusion criteria were selected for a further 10-year follow-up study. We found that there were statistical significance between non-transfused and transfused group in mortality (P=0.018), local recurrence (P=0.000) and distant metastasis (P=0.040). Local recurrence and distant metastasis between 1 to 3 units and more than 3 units group did not show any significant differences. There was no difference in survival rate between non-transfused and 1 to 3 units group (log rank=0.031, P=0.860). The difference between different blood transfusion volume in transfused patients was found (78.77% vs 63.83%, P=0.006). Meanwhile, the significant difference of survival rate was existed between non-transfused group and more than 3 units group (84.83% vs 63.83%, P=0.002 ). Univariate analysis showed the following 3 variables to be associated with an increased risk of allogeneic blood transfusions: preoperative CEA level (P<0.05), location of tumor (P<0.01) and diameter of tumor (P<0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that location of tumor and diameter of tumor are two independent factors for requirement of perioperative transfusions. Therefore, allogeneic transfusion increase the postoperative tumor mortality, local recurrence and distant metastasis in patients with stage II colon cancer. The postoperative tumor mortality, local recurrence and distant metastasis were not associated with the blood transfusion volume. The blood transfusion volume was associated with the survival rate. Location of tumor and diameter of tumor were the independent preoperative risk factors for blood transfusion.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.206-220
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of depression, discomfort, spirituality, physical care, and opioid use on pain with terminally ill cancer patients residing in hospice units. The convenient sample of this study consisted of 41 terminally ill cancer patients at three hospice units in university affiliated hospitals. Patients were interviewed with structured questionnaires three times at predetermined intervals: admission to the hospice unit (Time 1), one week later (Time 2), and two weeks later (Time 3). The data was collected from January 1998 to January 1999 and was analyzed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multivariate multiple regression. 1. The mean age of the participants was approximately 55 years old. In terms of diagnosis, lung cancer showed the highest frequency (19.5%), followed by stomach cancer and rectal cancer (17.1%). The motive of seeking hospice unit admission was control (72. 2%), followed by spiritual care (50%), and symptom relief (38.9%). 2. Regarding the type of pain felt, the highest pain frequency the participants experienced was deep pain (55%), followed by multiple pain (25%), intestinal pain (10%), then superficial (5%) and neurogenic pain (5%). For the level of pain measured by VAS, there was no significant difference among the three time points; Time 1 (5.04$\pm$2.21), Time 2 (4.82$\pm$2.58) and Time 3(4.73$\pm$2.51). 3. There was significant change seen in spirituality and physical care in each time interval. Namely, the longer the length of admission at the hospice unit, the higher the importance of spirituality (p=0.0001) and the more the physical care the participants received (p=0.01). The opioid use at the three time points showed the following frequencies : Time 1 (75.6%), Time 2 (85.4%) and Time 3 (75.6%). 4. Regarding factors influencing pain, the pain level was significantly affected by the depression level (p〈0.01) and the opioid use (p〈0.1). These results were the most significant at the two time points (Time 1 and Time 2). At Time 3 (two weeks later), the pain level was significantly affected by the depression level (p〈0.05) and the amount of physical care the participants received (p〈0.1). In conclusion, the terminally ill cancer patients had moderate pain, were generally depressed, and were treated with opioid analgesics. As approaching death, the patients received more physical care due to increased physical symptoms experienced and they had a higher perception of the importance of spirituality. Thus, health care professionals need to provide continuous care for each of them to die comfortably physically, psycho- logically, and spiritually.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.181-189
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Recently, health policy making is increasingly based on evidence. Therefore, Korean Terminal Cancer Patient Information System (KTCPIS) was developed to meet such need. We aimed to report its developmental process and statistics from 6 months data. Methods: Items for KTCPIS were developed through the consultation with practitioners. E-Velos web-based clinical trial management system was used as a technical platform. Data were collected for patients who were registered to 34 inpatient palliative care services, designated by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs, from $1^{st}$ of January to $30^{th}$ of June in 2009. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. Results: From the nationally representative set of 2,940 patients, we obtained the following results. Mean age was $64.8{\pm}12.9$ years, and 56.6% were male. Lung cancer (18.0%) was most common diagnosis. Only 50.3% of patients received the confirmation of terminal diagnosis by two or more physicians, and 69.7% had an insight of terminal diagnosis at the time of admission. About half of patients were admitted to the units on their own without any formal referral. Average and worst pain scores were significantly reduced after 1 week when compared to those at the time of admission. 73.4% faced death in the units, and home-discharge comprised only 13.3%. Mean length of stay per admission was $20.2{\pm}21.2$ days, with median value of 13. Conclusion: Nationally representative data on the characteristics of patients and their caregiver, and current practice of service delivery in palliative care units were obtained through the operation of KTCPIS.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.604-611
• /
• 2006

Purpose. Koreans are one of the fastest growing Asian populations in the U.S. since 1960s. In Korean immigrant women (KIW), breast cancer was reported as the most frequently diagnosed cancer. However, their screening rates for breast cancer are lower than national guidelines; it is assumed that underlying cultural schemas of breast, breast cancer, and its screening modalities exist and need to be studied. This study was aimed to investigate cultural meanings of breast, breast cancer, and breast cancer screenings in KIW. Methods. Using cultural models theory from cognitive anthropology, naturalistic qualitative methodology was utilized. Three focus group interviews with fifteen KIW were conducted. Thematic analysis with constant comparison technique was performed eliciting units of meaning, categories, and themes. Results. The cultural schema of the meaning of breast is 'mother who is breast-feeding her baby,' with two themes of 'balance in size,' and 'shyness.' Regarding breast cancer, three themes, i.e., 'indifference,' 'fear,' and 'uncertainty' are emerged. 'Lack of information about screening modalities' is the overarching schema with reference to breast cancer screenings. Conclusions. The findings of this study demonstrate unique cultural models of KIW related to breast cancer and its screenings, which are critical to understand and penetrate their barriers to breast cancer screening.