• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.510-537
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• 1995

Human health is an integral part of experience in the process of Human Becoming. Through continual interaction with the environment human beings freely choose experience and develop as responsible beings. The process of the health experience of patient with terminal cancer is a unique. he objective of this study is to understand the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer in order to provide basic information for nursing care in the clinical setting and to develop a theoretical background for clinical practice. This study is to de-scribe and define the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer in order to provide a foundation for nursing research and education. Data collection has been done between December 1993 and November 1994. The subjects included five persons -four females and one male : one who was in her sixties, one in his fifties, two in their forties, and one who was in her thirties. The researcher has met with these patients 35 times, but at eight times the patient was in a stuporous condition and not able to participate, so these were not included in the data analysis. Parse's "Human Becoming Methodology", an existential phenomenological research methodology is used for this study. Data has been collected using he dialogical engagement process of "I and You", the participant researcher and the participant subject. Dialogical engagement was discontinued when the data was theoretically saturated. Data was analyzed using the extraction - synthesis and heuristic interpretation. The criteria of Guba and Lincoln(1985). and Sandelo wski(1986) : credibility, auditability, fitness and objectivity were used to test the validity and reliability of the data. The following is a description of the structure of the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer as defined by this study : 1. Structure : 1) Suffering through the reminiscence of past experience 2) The appearance of complex emotions related to life and connectedness 3) The increasing importance of significant people and of the Absolute Being 4) The increasing realization of the importance of health and belief 5) Desire for a return to health and a peaceful life or for acceptance of dying and a comfortable death In summary the structure of the lived experience of these patients can be said to be : suffering comes through reminiscence of past experience, and there are complex emotions related to life and connectedness. Significant people and the Absolute Being become increasingly important along with a realization of the importance of health and faith. And finally there is a desire for either a return to health and a peaceful life or for the acceptance of dying and a comfortable death. 2. Heuristic Interpretation : Using Parse's Human Becoming Methodology, the structure of the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer identified in this research is interpreted as. The lived experience of patients with terminal cancer involves the solving of past conflicts, and the experience of the healing and valuing of sorrow and pain. Through the relation of life and health, and the complex emotions that arise, the lived experience of revealing - concealing is of paradoxical emotions. The increasing importance of significant others and of the Absolute Being shows Connecting and Separating an on- going process of nearness and farness. Revision of thoughts about health and faith is interpreted as transforming and desire for restoration to health and a peaceful life or acceptance of dying and a cowfortable death, as powering. In summary, it is possible to see, in the lived experience of patients with terminal cancer, the relationship of the five concepts of Parse's theory : valuing, revealing -concealing, connecting-separating, transforming, and powering. From Parse's theory, the results of this study show that meaning is related to valuing, rhythmicity to revealing-concealing and connect-ing-separating, and cotranscendence to transforming and powering.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2005

Purpose: This study is to identify the effect of a death education program to the nursing students on their anxiety of death and attitudes toward nursing care of the dying. Methods: The design of this study is nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of experimental group 20 and control group 16 in senior grade of department of Nursing G university in J city. The experimental group had Death education Program, which was a three days per week program, for 2 weeks. And post-test was carried out in the same way as the pre-test. Data analysis was done using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test, t-test, paired Sample t-test using with SPSS win 10.0. Results: the experimental group was decreased in degree of anxiety of death and was improved in degree of positive attitudes toward nursing care of the dying. Conclusion: The death Education Program can be an effective nursing education program for their Nursing students to decrease their death anxiety and to prepare care of the dying.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2013

Purpose: This study to describe experiences of nurses who work in intensive care units (ICUs) where they frequently encounter patients with attempted suicide by drug ingestion. Methods: Data were collected by 2 focus group interviews with 9 ICU nurses. The interview were recorded and transcribed, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The results of data analysis, five themes were drawn: 'Confusion about for the attempted suicidal patient care', 'Helplessness for dying with attempted suicidal patients', 'Guilty for insufficient care', 'Ambivalence for the attempted suicidal patients', 'Recognition of need for professional approach'. Conclusion: The results of this study help us to understand patients who attempted suicide through the ICU nurses' experience. It would be useful to develop effective education programs for ICU nurses to preventive strategies for patients who are high risk of recurrence of suicidal crisis situation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3357-3360
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• 2012

Objective: This study was to present the survival of advanced cancer patients and explore the influence of various factors on survival time as well as survival rate. The results provide guidelines for clinical practice of cancer treatment. Methods: Follow-up of 674 advanced cancer patients was performed in a hospice. The median survival time and survival rate were calculated, and survival analysis was carried out. Results: The median survival time of all patients dying from cancer was 12.0 months and the average survival time was 25.1 months. The 1-year cumulative survival rate was $0.518{\pm}0.020$ and the 5-year cumulative survival rate was $0.088{\pm}0.012$. The following factors showed significant impacts on survival rate: gender, age, primary diagnosis, surgery and the time when pain appeared. Conclusions: The survival time of patients with advanced cancer was relatively short. Major approaches to extend the survival time include early detection, early diagnosis, effective surgical treatment, pain control, reasonable supply of nutrients and multiple interventions.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.240-248
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• 2016

Purpose: Patients and their caretakers need to understand various problems and requirements in the dying process so that they may prepare for death for the rest of their remaining life. Accordingly, a systematic audio-visual resource was developed to educate hospice patients and their families at the palliative care ward about the process of dying. Methods: For the development of an audio-visual resource, a initial education material was produced in the form of simple and accessible Power Point handouts based on literature study. Then, the program was completed through five rounds of a process, including expert advice, revision, update and evaluation. Results: The final version of the program was filmed with cooperation of the medical literature information division. Using the program, patients and families were educated through five phases over three sessions for a total 26 minutes and 34 seconds. Conclusion: The significance of this study lies in the fact that it was conducted after the establishment of the palliative care ward, which made it easier for nurses provide the education. It is expected that the program may be used by hospice specialists as well as nurses as an education resource for hospice patients and their families.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2011

Purpose: The Assessing Care Of Vulnerable Elders project has developed indicators for the quality of the end-of-life (EOL) care. However, family members of cancer patients may have a different view on the quality indicators (QIs) established by health care experts. We evaluated the QIs from the family members' perspective. Methods: The information used in this study was gathered by surveying family members of cancer patients who were admitted to the inpatient hospice ward in Korea. A cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 120 potential respondents from July to October 2009. We included 69 responses in this study (effective response rate, 57.5%). Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS for Win ver. 14.0, with independent t-test and Pearson's chi-square test. Results: Among QIs for good hospice care, families agreed the most on "Medical examination by the palliative care team or specialist" (88.4%) and "Dying in the family's presence" (88.4%). They agreed the least on "Discussing cardiopulmonary resuscitation with patients" (15.9%). Among QIs for bad hospice care, "Occurrence of fall or pressure ulcer are undesirable" showed the highest agreement rate (94.2%). The lowest agreement rate was 11.6% on "Dying in the hospital is undesirable." In addition, women, patients who were aware of their prognoses, and people with a high socioeconomic status tended to agree more on the QIs. Conclusion: Patients' families did not agree on some of the QIs recommended by previous studies. Family members' characteristics were related to their opinions on QIs.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1419-1426
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• 2008

Fulminant hepatic failure is a clinical syndrome associated with a high mortality rate. Orthotopic liver transplantation is the only clinically proven effective treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease who do not respond to medical management. A major limitation of this treatment modality is the scarcity of donor organs available, resulting in patients dying while waiting for a donor liver. An extracorporeal bioartificial liver (BAL) device containing viable hepatocytes has the potential to provide temporary hepatic support to liver failure patients, serving as a bridge to transplantation while awaiting a suitable donor. In some patients, providing temporary hepatic support may be sufficient to allow adequate regeneration of the host liver, thereby eliminating the need for a liver transplant. Although the BAL device is a promising technology for the treatment of liver failure, there are several technical challenges that must be overcome in order to develop systems with sufficient processing capacity and of manageable size. In this overview, the authors describe the critical issues involved in developing a BAL device. They also discuss their experiences in hepatocyte culture optimization within the context of a microchannel flat-plate BAL device.

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

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2008

Background: Recent changes in the medical environment have increased the need for the home health care nursing in Korea. Even though the number of home health care patients is increasing, the major nursing problems have not been identified due to lack of a standardized nursing diagnosis. Aim: An investigative study was conducted to determine the frequency and appropriateness of nursing problems in hospital-based home health care patients in Korea using two internationally standardized nursing diagnosis classification systems. Methods: Nursing records of 249 hospital-based home health care patients were reviewed and nursing problems were identified using the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association Nursing Diagnosis Taxonomy I (NANDA) and the Clinical Care Classification of Nursing Diagnoses (CCC). Findings: Out of 463 nursing problems. 403 nursing problems were described using the NANDA whereas 427 nursing problems were described using the CCC. Nursing diagnoses not captured by the NANDA classification include nausea/vomiting, anorexia, risk for nutrition deficit, decreased blood pressure, dying process, blood sugar impairment. infection unspecified, and disuse syndrome. Nursing diagnoses not captured by the CCC include nausea/vomiting and anorexia. Conclusions: In describing nursing problems of home health care patients, it was found that the CCC was able to represent more diagnoses than the NANDA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4251-4254
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• 2014

Background: Treatment of anemia is an important issue in the palliative care setting. Blood transfusion is generally used for this purpose in supportive care. However the place of blood transfusion in terminally ill cancer cases is less far established. Objective: We aimed to outline the use of transfusions and to find the impact of blood transfusion on survival in patients with advanced cancer and very near to death. Design: Patients dying in 2010-2011 with advanced cancer were included in the study. We retrospectively collected the data including age, type of cancer, the duration of last hospitalisation, ECOG performance status, Hb levels, transfusion history of erythrocytes and platelets, cause and the amount of transfusion. The anaemic patients who had transfusion at admission were compared with the group who were not transfused. Survival was defined as the time between the admission of last hospitalisation period and death. Results: Three hundred and ninety eight people with solid tumours died in 2010-2011 in our clinic. Ninety percent of the patients had anemia at the time of last hospitalisation. One hundred fifty three patients had erythrocyte transfusion at admission during the last hospitalisation period (38.4%). In the anaemic population the duration of last hospitalisation was longer in patients who had erythrocyte transfusion (15 days vs 8 days, p<0.001). Conclusions: Patients who had blood transfusion at the end of life lived significantly longer than the anaemic patients who were not transfused. This study remarks that blood transfusions should not be withheld from terminal cancer patients in palliative care.