Nurse views of the adequacy of decision making and nurse distress regarding artificial hydration for terminally ill cancer patients: a nationwide survey.

Am J Hosp Palliat Care

Department of Adult Nursing/Palliative Care Nursing, School of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Published: March 2008

We evaluated nurse views on the adequacy of decision-making discussion among nurses and physicians regarding artificial hydration for terminally ill cancer patients and nurse distress arising from artificial hydration issues, as well as factors related to this distress. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 4 questions about nurse views of discussions regarding artificial hydration and 6 questions about nurse distress arising from artificial hydration issues was distributed in participating institutions in October 2002 and returned by mail. A total of 3328 responses (79%) were analyzed. Almost half of the nurses felt that discussion of terminal hydration issues was insufficient. Among responses, 39% of oncology nurses and 78% of palliative care unit (PCU) nurses agreed that patients and medical practitioners discuss the issue of artificial hydration adequately, and 49% and 79%, respectively, agreed that medical practitioners discuss the issue of artificial hydration with other physicians adequately. As for distress on behalf of patients and families who refuse artificial hydration, 44% of oncology nurses and 57% of PCU nurses experienced such distress for patients, and 19% and 28% did so for families, respectively. Furthermore, 48% of oncology nurses and 47% of PCU nurses experienced distress arising from disagreements among medical practitioners about withholding artificial hydration, whereas 44% and 43% experienced distress about medical practitioners refusing artificial hydration, respectively. Discussion among care providers regarding artificial hydration is insufficient, particularly in general wards. Medical practitioners caring for terminally ill cancer patients should engage in greater discussion among patient-centered teams and facilitate individualized decision making.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049909107302301DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

artificial hydration
44
medical practitioners
20
nurse views
12
nurse distress
12
hydration
12
terminally ill
12
ill cancer
12
cancer patients
12
distress arising
12
hydration issues
12

Similar Publications

Tuning Bro̷nsted Acidity by up to 12 p Units in a Redox-Active Nanopore Lined with Multifunctional Metal Sites.

J Am Chem Soc

January 2025

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 123 Bevier Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States.

Electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and solvation effects can alter the free energies of ionizable functional groups in proteins and other nanoporous architectures, allowing such structures to tune acid-base chemistry to support specific functions. Herein, we expand on this theme to examine how metal sites ( = H, Zn, Co, Co) affect the p of benzoic acid guests bound in discrete porphyrin nanoprisms () in CDCN. These host-guest systems were chosen to model how porous metalloporphyrin electrocatalysts might influence H transfer processes that are needed to support important electrochemical reactions (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this work, artificial neural network coupled with multi-objective genetic algorithm (ANN-NSGA-II) has been used to develop a model and optimize the conditions for the extracting of the Mentha longifolia (L.) L. plant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Conscience at the End of Life.

Nurs Rep

December 2024

Department of Philosophy, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA.

Background/objectives: Caring for patients at the end of life can involve issues that are ethically and legally fraught: withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration, pain control that could hasten death, aggressive treatment that is continued when it seems only to be prolonging suffering, patients who request medical assistance in dying, and so forth. Clinicians may find that their deeply held ethical principles conflict with law, institutional policy, or patients' choices. In these situations, they may consider either refusing to participate in procedures that they find morally abhorrent (conscientious refusal) or providing care that they believe to be ethically obligatory despite being contrary to law or policy (conscientious commitment).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite the ubiquitous use of glasses, their simultaneous susceptibility toward scratch-induced defects and atmospheric hydration deteriorates their mechanical and chemical durability. Here, it is demonstrated that the deposition of a few-layer graphene provides unprecedented wear resistance to silica glass in aqueous conditions. To this extent, nanoscale scratch tests are carried out on graphene-glass surfaces via contact-mode atomic force microscopy with chemically inert and reactive tips.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exploring the hydrate landscape using data mining on the Cambridge structural database (CSD).

Int J Pharm

December 2024

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address:

With the continued relevance of drug hydrates in pharmaceutical sciences, a comprehensive understanding of hydrate and anhydrate forms is essential, not only through individual case studies but also from a broader, systematic perspective. The Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) is a well-established database for crystal structures of organic molecules and here, the structural features of pharmaceutically relevant compounds forming hydrates were explored. Drug anhydrate and hydrate subsets were generated and further classified into separate anhydrate and hydrate sets for free drug, cocrystal/solvate, salt, multicomponent cocrystal/solvate, and salt cocrystal/solvate systems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!