Review: Factors Relating to Nurses\u27 Caring Behaviors for Dying Patients

Background: Nowadays, caring for patients at the end of life becomes an indicator of the quality of care in a hospital. Nurses are the key people to provide care for dying patients, therefore caring behaviors of nurses could affect the quality of care. To attain and maintain the quality of care at the end of life, factors that contribute to nurses\u27 caring behaviors for dying patients needs to be addressed.Purpose: The purpose of this article is to review factors relating to nurses\u27 caring behaviors for dying patients from existing literature.Method: Relevant literature from electronic databases, including CINAHL, PubMed, Science direct, OVID, Proquest, and The Cochrane Library during the year 1990-2010, was examined, synthesized, and categorized systematically.Result: The results showed that factors related to a nurse\u27s caring behavior for a dying patient can be classified into three groups. These include; Nurse\u27s personal factors, Technological influencing factors and Environmental factors.Conclusion: The three factors related to nurses\u27 caring behaviors for dying patients in the current review could serve as a valuable database to implement in nursing practice, education and research, in order to achieve quality of end-of-life care

Nurses Caring for Patients at the End of Life in Intensive Care Unit : A Literature Review

This article explored nurses caring for patients at the end of life in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A literature review was conducted by analyzing 56 scholar papers including research articles, thesis/dissertation, and books which met the inclusion criteria. Data were searched through PubMed, ProQuest, Wiley Online Library and Science Direct. Searches used combination of following keywords: ‘ICU nurse’, combined with ‘caring’, ‘end of life’, ‘end of life care’. The result of the analysis presented the need of the patients and their families at the end of life, the nurses’ goals of caring at the end of life, the nurses’ role, problems and barriers in caring at the end of life in the ICU. Culture and religion have an influence in caring for patients at the end of life. The knowledge from this literature review can be guided the nurses to develop an effective caring model at the end of life in the ICU

Spirituality and Dignity of Thai Adolescents Living with HIV

Abstract: (1) Background: Adolescents are a key asset and resource for the social and economic development of any country, with the potential to make a significant contribution to their families, communities and countries. Healthy and educated adolescents are important. However, there are still significant rates of death, illness and disease among adolescents in some countries, where HIV is one of the most prevalent causes of death in this group. Adolescents living with HIV may experience and encounter social restrictions and physiological limitations. Therefore, this investigation explored whether the concepts of spirituality and dignity had any relevance to participants sense of meaning and purpose and whether these had any impact upon their health and well-being (2) Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used involving twenty-two adolescents living with HIV attending one regional hospital in Southern Thailand. One to one interviews and descriptive diaries were used to collect the data and thematic analysis enabled the identification of attributes of spirituality and dignity. (3) Results: The findings revealed that spirituality and dignity were present in the lives of Thai adolescents living with HIV expressed in the main category of living life responsibly. This comprised of six themes: (a) Understanding the disease and accepting the truth about life, (b) Maintaining hope for a cure, (c) Focusing on life’s purposes, (d) Making life choices, (e) Caring for oneself and (f) Responsibility towards other. (4) Conclusions: The findings provide helpful insights for parents, nurses, and other health professionals supporting adolescents living with HIV to obtain a holistic, dignified approach to care that includes attention to the spiritual dimension

Family Experiences of Getting Tuberculosis Diagnosis

Background: Children who living in tuberculosis (TB) household have a high risk to be transmitted by TB, that become the main reason for those children to be given TB prevention.DiagnosedbyTB,isanentrypointofthefamiliestobeawareoftheriskof TBtransmissionandtheneedofTBprevention,especiallyfortheirchildren.Objectives: This study aimed to explore the family experiences of living with patients diagnosed with tuberculosis. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted from December 2016 to July 2017, among fourteen family caregivers whose a previous adult active-TB and have children living in same households. The key participants were recruited from a lung clinic Bandung-Indonesia and followed up to their home. Data were gathered by in-depth interview. Each interview took 40-90 minutes in the informant’s home. Data were analysed by content analysis. Results: Most families experienced TB diagnosis delayed. They did not notice initial TB symptoms, felt inconvenience with the health care services, and travelled around for the right diagnosis. Conclusions/Importance: ThisstudyhighlightedimportantearlygettingTBdiagnosis, therefor nurses and other health care professionals should enhance family’s knowledge and awareness to TB symptoms and the health care services system, in order to improve family awareness to the risk of TB transmission. Moreover, strengthening of the health care services system is needed to improve the effectiveness and quality of TB diagnosis

Nurse Involvement in End of Life Decision Making in the Intensive Care Unit: A Literature Review

This article reviews the evidence related to nurse involvement in the end of life (EOL) decision making in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This study was conducted by analyzing 53 scholarly papers which met the inclusion criteria. Data were searched through CINAHL, Science Direct, ProQuest, Wiley Online Library, and PubMed. The keywords used were “ICU Nurse”, combined with “end of life”, “decision making” and “end of life decision making”. The databases of PubMed, ProQuest, CINAHL, Wiley Online, Ovid, and Science Direct were used to search for the relevant articles. The results of the analysis present the definition of end of life decision making, type of end of life decision making, persons involved in end of life decision making in the ICU, process of end of life decision making in the ICU, a nurse’s role in end of life decision making, and factors influencing end of life decision making in the ICU. The results of this study are important to develop an understanding regarding nurse involvement in end of life decision making in the ICU

Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life among Thai People with Coronary Heart Disease: A Preliminary Study

Objective: To examine the prediction of severity of illness, health promoting behaviors, cardiac self-efficacy, and acceptance of illness on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Thai people with coronary heart disease (CHD) in Thailand. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. A quota sampling was used to recruit 110 people with CHD, who met the inclusion criteria, from 20 selected hospitals across Thailand. Five self-reporting questionnaires were used: a demographic data questionnaire, Thai version of MacNew HRQOL, Thai version of Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II, Thai version of Cardiac Self-Efficacy Scale Questionnaire, and the Thai version of Acceptance of Illness Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a point-biserial correlation or a bivariate Pearson’s correlation and multiple stepwise regression analyses. Results: One hundred and ten people were included. Most of the participants were men (64.5%) with an average age of 62.07±9.98 years. Most of them (76.4%) were best categorized as class I under the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) classification system. The findings showed that 46 percent of the variance (adjusted R2 =0.46) for HRQOL was explained by being CCS class I (β=0.22, p-value<0.010), cardiac self-efficacy (β=0.41, p-value<0.010) and acceptance of illness (β=0.35, p-value<0.010). Health promoting behavior was a non-significant predictor of HRQOL (β=0.10, p-value=0.260). Conclusion: The results support the severity of illness, cardiac self-efficacy, and acceptance of illness in explaining HRQOL among people with CHD. Therefore, nursing interventions that are suitable for the severity of the disease, and aimed at boosting cardiac self-efficacy and acceptance of illness should be considered to enhance HRQOL

Socio-demographic and AIDS-related factors associated with tuberculosis stigma in southern Thailand: a quantitative, cross-sectional study of stigma among patients with TB and healthy community members

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the most important infectious diseases worldwide. A comprehensive approach towards disease control that addresses social factors including stigma is now advocated. Patients with TB report fears of isolation and rejection that may lead to delays in seeking care and could affect treatment adherence. Qualitative studies have identified socio-demographic, TB knowledge, and clinical determinants of TB stigma, but only one prior study has quantified these associations using formally developed and validated stigma scales. The purpose of this study was to measure TB stigma and identify factors associated with TB stigma among patients and healthy community members.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was performed in southern Thailand among two different groups of participants: 480 patients with TB and 300 healthy community members. Data were collected on socio-demographic characteristics, TB knowledge, and clinical factors. Scales measuring perceived TB stigma, experienced/felt TB stigma, and perceived AIDS stigma were administered to patients with TB. Community members responded to a community TB stigma and community AIDS stigma scale, which contained the same items as the perceived stigma scales given to patients. Stigma scores could range from zero to 30, 33, or 36 depending on the scale. Three separate multivariable linear regressions were performed among patients with TB (perceived and experience/felt stigma) and community members (community stigma) to determine which factors were associated with higher mean TB stigma scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Only low level of education, belief that TB increases the chance of getting AIDS, and AIDS stigma were associated with higher TB stigma scores in all three analyses. Co-infection with HIV was associated with higher TB stigma among patients. All differences in mean stigma scores between index and referent levels of each factor were less than two points, except for incorrectly believing that TB increases the chance of getting AIDS (mean difference of 2.16; 95% CI: 1.38, 2.94) and knowing someone who died from TB (mean difference of 2.59; 95% CI: 0.96, 4.22).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that approaches addressing the dual TB/HIV epidemic may be needed to combat TB stigma and that simply correcting misconceptions about TB may have limited effects.</p

Roles of clinical faculty in promoting the practice of patient safety by nursing students

Patient safety is a major concern in nursing and healthcare delivery. It is related to the quality of care and is the responsibility for all healthcare professionals. As the users of healthcare services for educational purposes, nursing faculty and nursing students practicing in the hospital carry the responsibility of their practice for the sake of patient safety. While patient safety has been taught in nursing school, it is important to ensure that this topic is well practiced by nursing students in their clinical practicum. The nursing faculty plays an important role in this regard. This editorial proposes the roles of clinical faculty in promoting the practice of patient safety by nursing students through various teaching modalities. By understanding and implementing the roles, clinical faculty is expected to ensure that nursing students are able to promote patient safety during their clinical practice

Search for a cure: narratives of Thai family caregivers living with a person with AIDS

Facing an incurable prognosis Thai families search for a cure for AIDS using all possible means available to them. This paper reports a longitudinal narrative case study of eight family caregivers caring for a relative with AIDS in rural Southern Thailand. The paper demonstrates how the caregivers living with a person with AIDS made sense of illness episodes, and how they chose and evaluated particular treatments and care. Caregivers moved between modern medicine, traditional/folk medicine, supernatural healing rites, religious performances, and home remedies in their search for a cure. The findings indicate that a more holistic and palliative approach is needed toward AIDS care.Thailand AIDS Family Traditional/folk medicine Supernatural healing rites Thai religious performances