ABSTRACT
Objective: This study aimed to clarify outpatient nurses' awareness of their support for the decision-making of newly diagnosed cancer patients undergoing surgical therapy.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight outpatient nurses from two hospitals, and transcribed data were analyzed qualitatively.Results: The following four categories of outpatient nurses' awareness were extracted: "Difficult environment for supporting decision-making", "Identifying a patient in need of support", "Collaborating at the organizational level", and "Supporting the patient until a satisfying decision is made". Although the nurses recognized the need to support cancer patients' decision-making when undergoing surgical therapy, they were obliged to prioritize other duties and found it difficult to adequately provide the support needed. Although it was difficult, nurses tried to identify patients requiring support during their routine work, and to assist them until a satisfying decision was made by collaborating with colleagues at the organizational level.Conclusion: In order for outpatient nurses to more effectively support cancer patients' decision-making, it is necessary to allocate an adequate number of personnel, secure interview spaces, and provide training for nurses to improve their skills in decision-making support, in addition to implementing the necessary organizational changes.
ABSTRACT
We investigated the effects on medical education of early exposure of undergraduate students to a summer camp for children with asthma. An objective evaluation by the editorial staff found final improvements in the following areas (in descending order of frequency): learning of basic medical behavior (91% of students); cooperative attitude of medical staff in general treatment with the patient and the patient's family (88%); understanding of childhood growth and development (80%); knowledge of childhood asthma (69%); and mastery of basic techniques for therapy and examination (41%). The differences in the ratio of improvement (%) before and after visiting the camp, were (in descending order of frequency): cooperative attitude of medical care staff in general medical treatment with the patient and the patient's family (47%); understanding of childhood growth and development (45%); knowledge of childhood asthma (38%); learning of basic medical manner (34%); and mastery of basic techniques for therapy and examination (25%). These findings suggest that a summer camp is useful for exposing undergraduate medical students to children with asthma and is effective for helping them understand patients and family-oriented pediatric medicine.