Effects of a nurse-led post-discharge advance care planning programme for community-dwelling patients nearing the end of life and their family members: A randomised controlled trial.

Background: Although evidence increasingly demonstrates the effects of advance care planning, the relevant studies are of questionable quality, and lack consensus regarding when and with whom to initiate the conversation.

Objective: To examine the effects of a structured, nurse-led post-discharge advance care planning programme on congruence between the end-of-life care preferences of the patient and family members, decisional conflicts and the documentation of care preferences.

Design: A two-arm parallel-group randomised controlled trial.

Impact of Death Work on Self: Existential and Emotional Challenges and Coping of Palliative Care Professionals.

Palliative care professionals, such as social workers, often work with death and bereavement. They need to cope with the challenges on "self" in working with death, such as coping with their own emotions and existential queries. In this study, the authors explore the impact of death work on the self of palliative care professionals and how they perceive and cope with the challenges of self in death work by conducting a qualitative study.

The effect of patient education with telephone follow-up on wound healing in adult patients with clean wounds: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of clean dressing technique in a home-care setting following a patient education program and telephone follow-up in a group of adult patients to wound healing in patients managed by sterile dressing changes by professional nurses in a general care outpatient clinic.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Subjects And Setting: The sample comprised adult patients with clean wounds who attended a general outpatient clinic in the Kowloon East district, a densely populated urban area in Hong Kong.

The meaning of hope from the perspective of Chinese advanced cancer patients in Hong Kong.

Aim: This article reports a study to examine the meaning of hope from the perspective of Chinese advanced cancer patients in Hong Kong.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of advanced cancer patients recruited from the palliative care unit of a local hospital. Data were saturated after 17 participants were interviewed.

Health-care professionals' perspective on hope in the palliative care setting.

Hope is considered a coping strategy as well as a factor that enhances quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. Most studies on the meaning of hope are from the patients' perspective. However, the health-care professionals' view is also important since it may affect their practice.

Healthcare professionals' perceptions of existential distress in patients with advanced cancer.

Aim: This paper is a report of an exploration of the phenomenon of existential distress in patients with advanced cancer from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.

Background: Existential distress is an important concern in patients with advanced cancer; it affects their well-being and needs to be addressed in the provision of holistic care.

Method: Focus groups were conducted from November 2008 to February 2009 with physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and chaplains working in a palliative care unit that served patients with advanced cancer in Hong Kong.