Life's Final Journey: The Oncology Nurse's Role

Seeking Common Ground: A Grounded Theory of the Nurse-Patient Relationship in Cancer Infusion Care

BACKGROUND

The nurse-patient relationship represents a valuable connection in cancer care. Largely studied within inpatient settings, the nature and influence of this central relationship in ambulatory settings remain relatively unexamined. The notable shift to ambulatory settings like infusion centers warrants examination of the nurse-patient relationship in this context.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to develop a grounded theory of the nurse-patient relationship in ambulatory cancer infusion care.

INTERVENTIONS/METHODS

Using grounded theory methodology, 11 nurses were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide. Data collection continued until data saturation occurred with the primary concepts.

RESULTS

The grounded theory, entitled Seeking Common Ground, includes 6 primary concepts. The concepts "we are all human"; "we work in a busy, complex environment"; "we seek common ground with patients"; "we use connections to support meaningful encounters"; "we find meaning in the relationships created"; and "we are governed by the push and pull of time" abstract the nurse-patient relationship from the nurses' perspective, emphasizing fundamental human connections.

CONCLUSIONS

The grounded theory Seeking Common Ground depicts the profound connection that nurses form with their patients in the ambulatory infusion setting. Underscoring the value of the nurse-patient relationship as foundational to the nursing profession must be driven through practice, education, and policy.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Consideration of educational aspects within nursing across all levels to influence clinical practice will remain key.

Exploring the variations in death anxiety among oncology nurses in China: a latent class analysis

BACKGROUND

Various factors have been found to be associated with high levels of death anxiety experienced by oncology nurses. The aim of this study was to use a person-oriented approach to examine the death anxiety patterns of Chinese oncology nurses and to analyze the differences in anxiety characteristics and their associated influencing factors.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey regarding palliative care among registered oncology nurses was conducted in Jiangsu Province, China.Latent class analyses was applied to identify their patterns of death anxiety. The score of PCQN-C (The Chinese version of the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing) and FATCOD-B-C (The Chinese version of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying scale), the demographic and working characteristics were further analyzed through covariance analysis (ANCOVA) and multivariate (or logistic) regression across the subgroups.

RESULTS

A two-potential-category model was selected based on the fit index. The results showed that 79% of oncology nurses belonged to the high pressure and pain group and 21% belonged to the low death anxiety group. The high pressure and pain group had significantly higher scores in the dimensions of emotion, stress and pain, time awareness, and cognition compared to the low death anxiety group. Factors influencing the high pressure and pain group included shorter working years, non-national or provincial oncology nursing specialists, non-national palliative care specialists, never discussing the topic of death with patients or family members, no palliative care related training, and PCQN and FATCOD scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that oncology nurses' death anxiety can be divided into two categories: low death anxiety and high stress pain, and certain factors, such as being female, having a short work experience, and lacking palliative care-related training, increase the likelihood of death anxiety.

Relationship between nurses’ psychological capital and satisfaction of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

As a special vulnerable group, the physical and mental health of elderly cancer patients has attracted much attention. However, few studies have focused on the impact of nurses’ mental state on the mental health of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this literature gap, this study aims to explore the impact of nurses’ psychological capital on the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients. The job demands-resources model (JD-R) is used to further investigate how work engagement and job resources of nurses affect this relationship.

Methods

The questionnaire survey was used to collect data, participants included 230 elderly cancer patients and their nurses from a tertiary first-class cancer hospital in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted with SmartPLS 3.3.9.

Results

Nurses’ psychological capital has a significant positive impact on the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses’ work engagement is an important mechanism for their psychological capital to affect the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients. In addition, nurses’ job resources positively moderate the relationship between their psychological capital and work engagement. The positive relationship between psychological capital and work engagement of nurses is stronger when they have abundant job resources.

Discussion

These findings suggest that healthcare organizations should take the psychological capital of medical staff as an important means to improve their competitive advantage. It can improve the quality of medical services to obtain good performance by effectively developing and managing the psychological capital of medical staff. In addition, healthcare organizations should recognize the importance of providing adequate job resources for medical staff.

Relationship between nurses' psychological capital and satisfaction of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

As a special vulnerable group, the physical and mental health of elderly cancer patients has attracted much attention. However, few studies have focused on the impact of nurses' mental state on the mental health of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this literature gap, this study aims to explore the impact of nurses' psychological capital on the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients. The job demands-resources model (JD-R) is used to further investigate how work engagement and job resources of nurses affect this relationship.

Methods

The questionnaire survey was used to collect data, participants included 230 elderly cancer patients and their nurses from a tertiary first-class cancer hospital in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted with SmartPLS 3.3.9.

Results

Nurses' psychological capital has a significant positive impact on the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses' work engagement is an important mechanism for their psychological capital to affect the satisfaction of elderly cancer patients. In addition, nurses' job resources positively moderate the relationship between their psychological capital and work engagement. The positive relationship between psychological capital and work engagement of nurses is stronger when they have abundant job resources.

Discussion

These findings suggest that healthcare organizations should take the psychological capital of medical staff as an important means to improve their competitive advantage. It can improve the quality of medical services to obtain good performance by effectively developing and managing the psychological capital of medical staff. In addition, healthcare organizations should recognize the importance of providing adequate job resources for medical staff.

Compassion and care at the end of life: oncology nurses' experiences in South-East Iran

BACKGROUND

End of life (EOL) care is newly established in the Iranian context. Context, in this case, refers to the internal and external manifestation of the nurse values, norms and experiences that are learnt throughout life.

AIM

The aim of this study was to explore nurses' experiences of caring for dying patients in Iran.

METHODS

A phenomenological hermeneutic approach, influenced by the philosophy of Ricoeur, was used to analyse 10 oncology nurses' experiences of caring for dying persons.

FINDINGS

Three themes emerged from the analysis: 1) seeing the patient as unique person, 2) being present and open to seeing patients as unique persons and 3) personal and professional development as a result of closeness between nurse and patient. Caring for dying persons means assisting them at the end of their lives.

CONCLUSION

Caring relationships underlie professional palliative care and are essential in EOL care. Proper palliative education and professionally led supervision should be included in the Iranian nursing curriculum.