1.
2.
Falk, Hanna, 1977, et al.
(författare)
Differences in Symptom Distress Based on Gender and Palliative Care Designation Among Hospitalized Patients.
2016
Ingår i: Journal of Nursing Scholarship. - : Wiley. - 1527-6546 .- 1547-5069. ; 48:6, s. 569-576
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
PURPOSE: To explore patient-reported symptom distress in relation to documentation of symptoms and palliative care designation in hospital inpatients.DESIGN: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 710 inpatients at two large hospitals in Sweden using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale and the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale. Chart reviews focused on nurses' and physicians' symptom documentation and palliative turning point.METHODS: Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables and provided summaries about the sample. Patients were grouped according to gender, age, palliative care designation, and symptom documentation. The t test and chi-square test were used to calculate whether symptom distress varied between groups. A two-way analysis of variance was conducted for multiple comparisons to explore the impact of gender and age on mean symptom distress.FINDINGS: Females reported higher levels of symptom distress than did males related to pain, fatigue, and nausea. When comparing symptom distress between males and females with documentation pertaining to symptoms, there were significant differences implying that females had to report higher levels of symptom distress than males in order to have their symptoms documented.CONCLUSIONS: Females need to report higher levels of symptom distress than do males for healthcare professionals to identify and document their symptoms. It can be hypothesized that females are not receiving the same attention and symptom alleviation as men. If so, this highlights a serious inequality in care that requires further exploration.CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Considering that common reasons why people seek health care are troublesome symptoms of illness, and that the clinical and demographic characteristics of inpatients are changing towards more advanced ages with serious illnesses, inadequate symptom assessment and management are a serious threat to the care quality.
3.
Fridh, Isabell, 1954, et al.
(författare)
Extensive human suffering : a point prevalence survey of patients' most distressing concerns during inpatient care
2015
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences. - : Wiley. - 0283-9318 .- 1471-6712. ; 29, s. 444-453
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
AIM: To explore patients' most distressing concerns during a hospital stay.BACKGROUND: The characteristics of hospitalised patients have changed. Care is provided at a higher age, lengths of stay have fallen and the nursing workload is increasing. It is presumed that hospitalised patients are more seriously ill and have more palliative needs than previously. Studies show that inpatients suffer from more distress than similar outpatients although there is a lack of overall knowledge about inpatients' distress and major concerns, regardless of age, diagnosis or care setting.METHODS: This study was part of a point prevalence survey (PPS) concerning symptom prevalence. Of the 710 patients who participated in the PPS, 678 (95%) answered an open-ended question in a questionnaire: What is your main concern or what is most distressing or troublesome for you at present? Using a life-world approach, the text was analysed qualitatively and patients' concerns were interpreted in two main dimensions, an intersubjective dimension and a temporal dimension.FINDINGS: The patients reported extensive suffering due to illness, symptoms and failing health. Patients were concerned about family members, existential issues and the future. Three aspects of the patients' most distressing concerns were interpreted: The suffering self, The suffering person in close relations and The suffering person in a threatening world.CONCLUSION: Hospitalised patients are affected by severe illness, distressing symptoms and existential quandaries, revealing extensive human suffering in the midst of the demanding activities that take place during an ordinary day in a hospital. To support patients and alleviate suffering, hospital staff need to be more sensitive to patients' most distressing concerns. This presupposes a hospital environment in which the value system supports caring and comforting behaviour.
4.
Fristedt, Sofi, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
Registered nurses and undergraduate nursing students' attitudes to performing end-of-life care
2021
Ingår i: Nurse Education Today. - : Elsevier BV. - 0260-6917 .- 1532-2793. ; 98
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Registered Nurses (RNs) are in the immediate position to provide End-of-life (EOL) care and counselling for patients and families in various settings. However, EOL-care often creates feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy linked to inexperience, lack of education, and attitude. To identify and describe factors associated with RNs' attitudes towards EOL-care, and to identify whether and how these attitudes differ from undergraduate nursing students' (UNSs) attitudes, a descriptive and comparative, quantitative study was performed. The FATCOD-instrument, focusing on attitude towards EOL-care, was used and the results analysed with descriptive and nonparametric statistics. In total, 287 RNs in 14 different specialist programmes, and 124 UNSs participated. A statistically significant difference (p = 0.032) was found in attitude towards EOL-care based on clinical experience. RNs in “Acute Care” and “Paediatric & Psychiatry Care” specialist programmes had a less positive attitude towards EOL-care (compared to RNs in other specialist programmes), while RNs attending the Palliative Care programme had the most positive attitudes. RNs and UNSs' scores differed statistically significantly in 17 out of 30 FATCOD variables. Finally, the results imply that there is a need for greater emphasis on further continuing education within EOL care for RNs working in all types of clinical specialities to encourage RNs talking about death and to enhance attitudes towards EOL care. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
5.
Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
Equal palliative care for patients with COPD? A nationwide register study
2019
Ingår i: Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences. - : Uppsala Medical Society. - 0300-9734 .- 2000-1967. ; 124:2, s. 140-147
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Although chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a life-limiting disease with a significant symptom burden, the patients are more often referred to nursing homes (NH), than to specialist palliative care (SPC) at the end of life (EOL). This study aimed to compare patients with COPD in SPC with those in NH and to compare the care provided. Methods: A national register study was carried out where the Swedish National Airway Register and the Swedish Register of Palliative Care were merged. COPD patients who died in NHs or short-term facilities were included in the NH group (n = 415) and those who died in SPC were included in the SPC group (n = 355). Demographic and clinical variables were included from the Swedish National Airway Register and variables concerning EOL care from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. Results: Symptom prevalence was similar in NHs and SPC, but symptom assessment (32% vs 20%), symptom relief medication (93-98% in SPC vs 74-90% in NH), EOL discussions (88% vs 66%), and bereavement support (94% vs 67%) were more likely in SPC (in all comparisons p < 0.001). Younger age and co-habiting increased the probability of dying in SPC (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Despite similar symptom prevalence, older persons are more likely to be referred to NHs. If applying a palliative care philosophy in NHs, routine symptom assessment and prescription of rescue medication for frequent symptoms, would be more likely. Promoting advance care planning and EOL discussions at an earlier stage would result in more prepared patients and families. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
6.
Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
Perception of quality of care : Comparison of the views of patients' with lung cancer and their family members
2012
Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Nursing. - Oxford : Wiley. - 0962-1067 .- 1365-2702. ; 21:3-4, s. 585-594
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Aims and objectives. To explore potential differences within dyads of patients with lung cancer and family members judgment of different aspects of quality of care and relationships between quality of care and personal and health-related characteristics. Background. High quality of care is important for acceptable quality of life in patients in palliative care. If patients are unable to participate in quality of care assessments or decision-making, family members might often act as proxies, despite the complicated nature of their own situation. Design. Cross-sectional survey design. Method. A patient and family member version of the abbreviated questionnaire Quality from Patients' Perspective, with additional items about perceived health and opinions about care, was mailed to members of the Swedish lung cancer Patient Organisation. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was used to identify potential differences within 51 patient-family member dyads' quality of care ratings. Relationships between Quality from Patients' Perspective dimensions and demographic and healthrelated variables were examined with Spearman's correlations. Results. Patient-family member dyads had high levels of agreement in ratings of perceived reality of quality of care. Family members generally rated the subjective importance of individual items higher than did the patient in the dyad, with significant difference in the dimension ` socio-cultural approach'. Older patients were found to rate the physical-technical conditions higher than younger patients, in relation to perceived reality but not subjective importance. Women family members were found to rate the subjective importance of medical-technical competence, identity-oriented approach and socio-cultural approach significantly higher than men did. Conclusions. Patients with lung cancer and their family members agree in ratings of the perceived reality, but they differ more in ratings of the subjective importance of quality of care. When patients are unable to communicate their preferences, family members' opinions could be used as proxies concerning concrete aspects of quality of care. Concerning more subjective aspects, family members' ratings should be interpreted with precaution, as it could diverge from patients' own opinion. Relevance to clinical practice. The perceptions of the importance of different aspects of quality of care were less related to health status than were judgments of quality of care received. This might suggest that the care patients received fulfilled neither the patients' nor family members' expectations, which is an important message to healthcare professionals and which would demand further exploration.
7.
Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
Symptom Distress Profiles in Hospitalized Patients in Sweden: A Cross-Sectional Study.
2014
Ingår i: Research in nursing & health. - : Wiley. - 1098-240X .- 0160-6891. ; 37:6, s. 512-523
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Symptom distress profiles of patients with a variety of diagnoses at two hospitals in Sweden were examined using a point-prevalence cross-sectional survey design. The sample included 710 patients present on internal medicine, surgery, geriatric, and oncology acute care hospital wards of each hospital on a single day. Symptom distress data were collected via structured interviews using a 0-10 numeric rating scale (NRS). Fatigue was the most prevalent symptom, experienced by 76.2% of the patients, followed by pain (65.2%) and sleeping difficulties (52.8%). Symptoms were fairly distressing (median NRS 5-6). Patients experiencing high distress from fatigue and pain were more likely to be female, living alone, and to have more symptoms. Latent class analysis revealed three symptom distress profiles that differed with respect to the degree of distress and number of symptoms. The profiles were not substantially differentiated by diagnoses. Symptom distress needs to be assessed and treated on an individual basis, rather than predicting distress levels based on diagnosis alone. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
8.
Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
The influence of symptom clusters and the most distressing concerns regarding quality of life among patients with inoperable lung cancer
2014
Ingår i: European Journal of Oncology Nursing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-3889 .- 1532-2122. ; 18:3, s. 236-241
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Purpose: To explore the influence of symptom clusters and the most distressing concerns on global rating of quality of life (QoL) among patients with inoperable lung cancer (LC) over a three-month period following diagnosis. Methods: Data were derived from a longitudinal study dealing with the symptom experiences of 400 patients with LC at three time points: close to diagnosis and one and three months later. The symptom clusters were derived from a QoL questionnaire using factor analysis, which resulted in three clusters: the Respiratory cluster, the Pain cluster and the Mood cluster. The most distressing concerns were derived from responses to a free listing question (What is most distressing at present') and were categorised under three dimensions: Bodily distress, Life situation with LC and latrogenic distress. Cross-sectional, multivariate regression analyses with QoL as a dependent variable were used to determine predictors (Symptom clusters and most distressing concerns) at the three time points. Results: All three symptom clusters predicted QoL at each time point. Close to diagnosis, none of the dimensions of most distressing concerns predicted QoL, while the dimension Bodily distress was a significant predictor of QoL after one month. The Life situation with LC dimension was a significant predictor of QoL three months after diagnosis. Conclusions: Symptom clusters are important to LC patients' QoL and need to be acknowledged by healthcare professionals. The present study shows the importance of patients' descriptions of key concerns, which vary from diagnosis onwards, and urges healthcare professionals to be vigilant to such changes. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
9.
Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
Validation of a Swedish version of the Cancer Dyspnea Scale.
2006
Ingår i: Journal of pain and symptom management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0885-3924. ; 31:4
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
The Cancer Dyspnea Scale (CDS) is a multidimensional measure of dyspnea experience, with three subscales related to sense of effort, sense of anxiety and sense of discomfort, and a total score. In this study, we evaluated the validity and reliability of a Swedish version, the CDS-S, in 99 patients with advanced lung cancer who were not receiving curative or life-prolonging treatments. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated by significant group differences in CDS-S scores when patients were stratified by dyspnea intensity, as measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS-D). Correlations between the total CDS-S score and other dyspnea scales varied between 0.63 and 0.68. Convergent validity was shown by comparing the CDS-S subscales with conceptually related measures of physical and emotional function and discomfort, and correlations ranged from 0.34 to 0.57. The CDS-S captured the psychological dimension of dyspnea better than did the VAS-D. Internal consistency of the CDS-S scales was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.90. The CDS-S was well received by the patients and completed in 2 minutes. This study supports the CDS as a valid and reliable instrument to measure dyspnea experience in a palliative setting, well suited for use in research as well as in clinical practice.
10.
Lundh Hagelin, Carina, et al.
(författare)
Factors influencing attitude toward care of dying patients in first-year nursing students.
2016
Ingår i: International journal of palliative nursing. - : Mark Allen Group. - 1357-6321 .- 2052-286X. ; 22:1, s. 28-36
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
To describe Swedish first-year undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward care of dying patients. Possible influences such as age, earlier care experiences, care education, experiences of meeting dying patients and place of birth were investigated.
