Exploring the Experiences of Oncology Nurses about the Factors Facilitating their Presence at the Bedside of Patients with Cancer: A Qualitative Study

Nurses' perceptions of compassionate care in pediatric oncology: a qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND

Compassion is a crucial aspect in the management of pediatric oncology patients as it has the potential to enhance nurse satisfaction levels, thereby further enhancing the quality and safety of the care they deliver. This study aimed to investigate nurses' understanding and experience of compassionate care when working in pediatric oncology departments.

METHODS

This research utilized a qualitative descriptive design. Content analysis was used to make sense of data collected via individual and semi-structured interviews conducted with nurses (n = 32) working in pediatric oncology departments.

RESULTS

Nurses' understanding of compassionate care for children with cancer was organized into two categories: Humanistic compassionate care and compassionate end-of-life care. The humanistic compassionate care category comprised of three subcategories: (1) empathy, (2) altruism, and (3) respect for the cultural values and beliefs of the family. The compassionate end-of-life care category comprised of two subcategories: (1) facilitating parents' presence at the child's bedside and (2) creating suitable conditions for accepting the death of a child.

CONCLUSION

Compassionate care for children with cancer is marked by a strong emphasis on humanistic, cultural, and end-of-life considerations. Our findings further emphasize the paramount importance of taking families' presence, wishes and beliefs into consideration within this context.

The Role of Nursing in the Delivery of Cardio-Oncology

OPINION STATEMENT

Nurses are the "heart of patient care" and in the forefront of the health care delivery for cardio-oncology patients. Nurses play a critical central role in maximizing longitudinal health of cancer patients and survivors through the prevention of cardiovascular complications throughout the patient's cancer care journey. Nurses function in a variety of roles such as nurse clinicians, advanced practice nurses (APNs)or nurse practitioners (NPs), patient educators, managers, nurse navigators or nurse researchers. The role of nurses, particularly the advanced practice nurses as key members in delivering cardio-oncology care is evolving. However, despite the rapidly increasing growth of cardio oncology programs globally, a pivotal need remains to develop and provide formalized training programs for nurses, NPs and APNs. At present, no formal academic cardio-oncology nurse training program or certification exists. There is clearly more work to be done on the role of nurses in cardio-oncology care. As cardio-oncology evolves to become a key specialty with dedicated services being established across the globe, the role of the nurse in delivering this service is critical and a concerted collaborative approach between the two distinct specialties of cardiology and oncology needs to ensure the nursing workforce is educationally prepared and confident to treat and manage cardio-oncology patients.

The Relationships among communication competence, professional autonomy and clinical reasoning competence in oncology nurses

AIMS

To investigate the relationships among communication competence, professional autonomy and clinical reasoning and to identify the factors that influence clinical reasoning competence in oncology nurses.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional descriptive design.

METHODS

Participants included 147 oncology nurses with more than a year of clinical experience in cancer wards. The Global Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale, Schutzenhofer Professional Autonomy Scale and Nurses Clinical Reasoning Scale (NCRS) were used to collect data. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

Communication competence (r = 0.59) and professional autonomy (r = 0.46) showed significant positive relationships with clinical reasoning competence. Clinical experience, communication competence, age and professional autonomy were statistically significant predictors and explained 48.6% of clinical reasoning competence.

CONCLUSIONS

The clinical reasoning competence of oncology nurses increases proportionally with their communication competence and professional autonomy. Therefore, oncology nurses must reinforce their communication competence and professional autonomy to enhance their clinical reasoning competence.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE

The reinforcement of communication competence and professional autonomy is necessary for oncology nurses to enhance their clinical reasoning competence. In order to improve nurses' communication competence, practical-focused communication education programmes must be designed and deployed systematically and periodically. In addition, to increase nurses' professional autonomy, it is necessary to expand their clinical experiences through the regular rotation of working units and to make institutional efforts to retain experienced nurses.

REPORTING METHOD

We have adhered to STROBE checklist.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Participants in the study were recruited online. They were informed of the study's purpose, method and usability and the survey could only be conducted if they consented to participate voluntarily.

Factors Improving Oncology Nurse Role Performance in Providing Pediatric Palliative Care: A SWOT Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Palliative care is provided by an interdisciplinary team in which, nurses play an important role, and improving their role performance can be effective in providing high-quality care. This study aimed to explore the factors related to improving oncology nurses' role performance in providing pediatric palliative care.

METHODS

This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 22 nurses, physicians, hospital supervisors, children, and their parents from September 2022 to January 2023. Data analysis was performed based on conventional content analysis proposed by Elo and Kyngas using MAXQDA 2020. Finally, subcategories of each main category were summarized in the SWOT analysis matrix.

RESULT

Data analysis led to the extraction of 1250 codes, three main categories (nurse-related factors, child and family-related factors, and organizational factors), five generic categories, and 32 subcategories that were ultimately classified in the SWOT analysis matrix.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that oncology nurses' role performance in providing palliative care is influenced by many internal and external factors. In this regard, in order to improve their role performance, increasing knowledge among nurses, nursing students, and the community on integrating pediatric palliative care topics into the nursing curriculum, fair access to palliative care services, drug accessibility, financial support, and further research are recommended.

The Challenges of Nursing Presence at the Patient's Bedside from the Perspective of Nurses: A Qualitative Study

Background

Presence is one of the vital aspects of nursing care that improves the outcome of treatment, self-care, satisfaction, loneliness, and anxiety of patients. The literature review shows that most of the studies have been conducted on the conceptual analysis of the presence of nurses, while there are many challenges for the presence of nurses at the bedside. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the perceived challenges of nurses from being at the bedside of patients.

Methods

This is a qualitative descriptive study. Conventional inductive content analysis was used. Field notes and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with nineteen clinical nurses. Participants were selected from general and intensive care units. Data analysis was performed using Zhang and Wildemuth approach.

Results

Three categories emerged: (1) professional challenges with subcategories: Supervision of novice nurses, insufficient skills and cultural unfamiliarity, (2) Management challenges with subcategories: managers' negligence toward nurse's needs, Strategies of nursing managers, lack of medical staff, inadequate medical facilities, inappropriate planned visits and appointments, (3) work environment challenges with sub-categories: ward overcrowding and non-standard hospital environment.

Conclusions

This study identified the challenges and obstacles of nurses' presence at the bedside in different dimensions from the perspective of clinical nurses. To increase the presence of nurses at the bedside, nursing managers should create a standardized work environment.

Educational Needs in Oncology Nursing: A Scoping Review

Care in oncology requires both technical and psychosocial skills by nursing staff, so continuous learning is necessary. Evidence suggests there are some educational gaps in oncology nursing staff, and continuing educational interventions have been effective in overcoming these deficiencies. Aim: to determine the basic educational lines that a continuous training program should have for oncology nurses. A bibliographic review study was carried out in two phases from October 2020 to January 2021. In a first phase, the main databases were analyzed: PubMed, Web of Science, Dialnet and Medline, following the PRISMA methodology; and subsequently, an analysis of the most important thematic nuclei that a training program in cancer nursing should contain. The DAFO matrix and the Hanlon prioritization method were used. Four competencies that every oncology nurse should have were described: communication, coping, self-direction of learning and technical health. The thematic contents that a training program should contain were then determined, and aspects such as stress prevention and burnout, adequate communication with patient and family, and continuous educational and technical skills were considered. The results found suggest that there are deficiencies in the education of nursing staff. Continuing education programs are effective in supplementing them. They should develop the four skills described in the results section.

The obstacles to nurses being present with patients

AIM

The aim of the present research was to investigate the obstacles, which prevent nurses being present with patients.

BACKGROUND

It is vital for nurses to be able to spend time with patients for an accurate assessment of patients' needs to take place and to allow patients to express their concerns. The factors, which prevent nurses spending time with patients, are still unclear.

METHOD

Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with thirty-five participants, including the nurses and physicians from educational hospitals of Tehran. The analysis was performed through the conventional content analysis. To achieve accuracy and trustworthiness of the data, the Lincoln and Guba criteria were used.

RESULT

The results of the study can be summarized as: "conflict between human considerations and bureaucratic structure," "failure to meet basic needs," "the personal and interpersonal aspects of caring" and "safety in caring context."

CONCLUSION

To ensure high-quality care, it is important to understand more fully the factors that prevent nurses spending time with patients. Interventions are needed to allow nurses to spend more time with the patients.

IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Health service managers should consider that the intrinsic motivation of nurses is to care for patients. They can increase the presence of nurses at patients' bedside and improve care quality by creating an attractive working environment, appreciating nurses' values, paying attention to their opinions and establishing professional communication based on mutual respect.

Personalization in Cancer Care: Implementation of an Interactive White Board to Improve Nurse-Patient Communication

During the vulnerable time of being hospitalized for cancer treatment, patients may long to be seen as an individual who exists apart from the disease process. The implementation of All About Me interactive white boards provides a mechanism to allow the patient's most unique needs to be met and to promote a more meaningful connection between the nurse and patient. This study provides information on the benefit of acknowledging patients' personalized characteristics, as well as the impact of promoting the connection between the nurse and patient through the boards.

Emotional Bond: The Nature of Relationship in Palliative Care for Cancer Patients

Aim

Relationship between care providers and cancer patients is one of the main elements in providing healthcare to these patients. Understanding the characteristics and the nature of the relationship is a basis for further organization of palliative care and will enhance the performance of care providers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship in palliative care for cancer patients.

Methods

In this qualitative study, 16 participants with rich experiences in the field of cancer patient's palliative care were selected by purposive sampling. A semi-structured face-to-face interview was conducted with each of the participants. After data collection, all interviews were transcribed and reviewed, and then primary codes, sub-categories, and categories were extracted.

Results

Data analysis emerged three categories; being alongside the patient, establishing and maintaining cordiality relationship, and mutual understanding with the patient. Moreover, an emotional bonding was the main theme that defined the nature of relationship between the care provider team and cancer patients in a palliative care approach.

Conclusion

Effective relationship based on emotional bonding is the foundation of palliative care in cancer patients. Considering the structures and palliative care settings in health systems, it is possible to provide training programs regarding the strategies related to establishing emotional bond for effective delivery of palliative care.