ABSTRACT
Purpose: Our purpose is to report an actual performance of our farewell prayer gathering held by the chaplain in our inpatient hospice at the Japan Baptist Hospital, and to describe what impressions and thoughts the bereaved families had about our farewell prayer gathering. Method: The questionnaires were sent to 84 patients’ families asking about our farewell prayer gathering. We analyzed the content of their comments. Results: Among the 40 families that responded, 15 families experienced our farewell prayer gathering. The words such as “prayer” and “participation of the staff” were mentioned as the favored experiences. The bereaved families felt “an emotional closure”, “peace of mind”, and “healing of mind and body”. They also found the gathering as “an opportunity to look back” and “special memorable moment”. Discussion: Our farewell prayer gathering is likely to be helpful for the bereaved to give peace to their mind and to reduce feelings of loss. By sharing the voices of bereaved families, it will be helpful for the betterment of grief care to future bereaved families in hospice care. We would like to see further research in the future.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The learning and practice of bereavement care by Japanese family practitioners has largely been unexplored. The purpose of this study was to clarify what family doctors thought they learned by providing care for bereaved families and how they changed because of it.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven family practitioners working in bereaved family outpatient care at the researcher's hospital. A modified grounded theory approach was used for the analysis.Results: The analysis identified five thematic categories: 1) the doctor's feelings and thoughts before learning about bereavement care, 2) things they learned from providing bereavement care, 3) things they learned by interacting with the families and things they learned upon reflections afterward, 4) changes in themselves, and 5) changes in their feelings after learning about bereavement care.Conclusion: The doctors learned to provide bereavement care by directly interacting with families and by reflecting on those experiences; for example, they learned to listen and be empathetic, and to understand individuals' personal responses to grief. As a result, they may have gained the ability to have a more rounded view of life and death and of their role in helping families adjust to the death of a family member.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The aim of this study was to extract factors for home-visiting nurses to determine family caregivers who need support after bereavement. Methods: A questionnaire was constructed and administered to 105 family caregivers of terminally ill patients. Using the survey responses, factors were extracted that would allow home-visiting nurses to judge the necessity of bereavement support before and after the deaths of the patients. Of the 105 family caregivers, 30 consented to participate in the survey. Researchers interviewed the 30 family caregivers using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the SF-8TM health survey to assess the health-related quality of life. The obtained data were analyzed using the mathematical quantification theory class II. Results: The extracted factors included: the existence of a disease under medical treatment, the existence of dissatisfaction with medical services, the existence of the economic burden of a disease, a married couple consisting of persons aged over 75 years, family members living in the home who tended to leave care to the primary caregiver, no reliable family members or relatives outside the home, and a tendency to refrain from requesting others’ help (the discrimination hit ratio was 76.7%, the correlation ratio was 0.42, and P=0.001). The criterion-related validity of judgments by home-visiting nurses was verified. Conclusion: These seven factors were revealed as important for determining family caregivers who need support after bereavement.
ABSTRACT
Resumen:
Introducción: el cuidado del paciente en etapa terminal adquiere cada vez más importancia dentro del sistema de salud, ya que el paciente merece evitar el sufrimiento en la etapa final de su vida. Es por ello que los profesionales de la salud, entre ellos el personal de enfermería, deben estar comprometidos a trabajar en conjunto con el propósito de aplicar los conocimientos y habilidades, para poder llevar a cabo eficazmente los cuidados paliativos ante el sufrimiento y la muerte. Objetivo: evaluar el nivel de conocimiento del personal de enfermería sobre los cuidados paliativos en pacientes hospitalizados en un servicio de medicina interna.
Metodología: se realizó un estudio descriptivo y transversal con 41 enfermeras del servicio de Medicina Interna de un hospital de zona. Se recabó la información en un cuestionario de respuesta opcional con base en el nivel de conocimientos de los cuidados paliativos de diversas patologías crónicas. La información recabada se procesó en Word y Excel y se aplicó estadística descriptiva. Resultados: el 80.49 % del personal tiene conocimiento sobre los cuidados paliativos y el 19.51 % no tiene los conocimientos suficientes sobre este tipo de cuidados.
Conclusiones: se requiere concientizar y capacitar a todo el personal de enfermería asignado al servicio de Medicina Interna sobre la importancia de este tema para poder brindar una atención de calidad y así evitar el sufrimiento y el dolor del enfermo terminal.
Abstract:
Introduction: The care of the patient in terminal stage is becoming increasingly important within the health system, since the patient deserves avoiding the suffering in the final stage of his life. That is why health professionals, including nurses, must be committed to work together, in order to apply the knowledge and skills to effectively carry out palliative care to the suffering and death. Objective: To determine the level of knowledge of nurses on palliative care for internal medicine inpatients.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with 41 nurses of Internal Medicine service of a zone hospital was performed. The information was collected in an optional response questionnaire based on the level of knowledge of palliative care in various chronic diseases. The information collected was processed in Word and Excel and descriptive statistics was applied. Results: 80.49% of the staff is knowledgeable about palliative care; thel9.51% do not have enough knowledge on palliative care.
Conclusions: Awareness and training are required in all nursing staff assigned to the Internal Medicine service about the importance of this issue in order to provide quality care to avoid pain and suffering of the terminally ill.
Subject(s)
Humans , Terminal Care , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Palliative Care , Hospice Care , Terminally Ill , Mexico , HumansABSTRACT
Purpose: To elucidate the problems recognized by visiting nurses when local communities support the bereaved families of users of home-visit nursing stations. Methods: A questionnaire survey was mailed to approximately 1,000 home-visit nursing stations throughout Japan. Results: We then analyzed 211 free descriptions and extracted 8 problems, including “Grief care is difficult to continue because it is a voluntary activity,” “It is insufficient in assessing bereaved families and I don’t know the social resources to introduce to bereaved families,” “I am reluctant to be involved with bereaved families,” “Because of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, it is difficult to support bereaved families,” and “A formal & informal support for bereaved families has not been established.” Conclusion: No system has been established for grief care in Japan and grief care does not generate a profit; therefore, visiting nurses felt limited in their ability to be continuously involved in grief care, although they were concerned about the situations of bereaved families. This study indicated future tasks that home-visit nursing stations that perform grief care for the bereaved families of their users and home-visit nursing stations that request this care be provided by community general support centers should be evaluated in terms of medical remuneration points.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To investigate the present situation and to explore future problems in bereavement care. Methods: A questionnaire survey was mailed to approximately 1,000 home-visit nursing stations throughout Japan. Results: A total of 296 (29.8%) valid responses were returned. Of the responding stations, 6.1% answered that they “positively perform” bereavement care, 73.1% “perform [it] when necessary,” and 20.7% “seldom perform” bereavement care. A total of 91.4% of the responding stations provided bereavement care by visiting nurses after a patient’s death. A total of 73.6% of the responding stations always performed care in the form of appreciation for their efforts. A total of 32.4% of the responding stations contacted related organizations to request that the organizations watch bereaved family members who suffered from dementia but lived alone. Reasons for not contacting related organizations included not knowing which organization to contact (17.5% of the responding stations). Conclusion: Approximately 90% of the responding stations provided bereavement care by visiting nurses after the patient’s death, with emotional support as the main activity. Visiting nurses were asked to acquire abilities: 1) to provide bereaved families with information about health and welfare services that could be used in addition to long-term care insurance to rebuild their lives, 2) to ascertain which bereaved families would need continuous support, and 3) to assign these bereaved families to relevant organizations.