The Summary of Hospice and Palliative Care for Cancer Patients in South Korea / 中国医学伦理学

With the advent of the aging society, cancer patients are increasing, and the demand for hospice care also increases in South Korea. At present, South Korea hospice and palliative care services mainly focus on cancer patients. South Korea's hospice and palliative care has gone through more than 30 years of development, and has developed rapidly in the past 15 years. At present, there are 99 hospitals providing hospice and palliative care services in South Korea. Patients can enjoy three types of services: inpatient care, counseling care, and home care. The service team consists of 5 departments including doctors, nurses, social workers, religious figures, and volunteers. Each department collaborates with each other as needed to provide services to patients and their families. The Korea National Cancer Center has set up a "standard education" to ensure the professionalism of service personnel. Besides, some hospitals are commissioned by government for training service personnel internally and externally. Hospice care in South Korea is still developing, however, there are also various problems that need to be further improved.

Quality of dying and death desired by residents of Kagawa Prefecture, Japan: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND@#Achieving a desirable death is an urgent aging-related problem in Japan. However, measures of the quality of death and dying in Japan are lacking. This study aimed to identify components of a desirable death in the residents of Kagawa prefecture, Japan, through focus group interviews.@*METHODS@#A group interview was conducted with 30 residents aged 20-80 (M = 50.9, SD = 22.1 years; 43.3% ≥ 65 years; 40.0% unemployed) who had experienced the death of a closely associated person. Participants were grouped into four generations with diverse characteristics (e.g., age, sex, occupation). The interview lasted 1-2 h and involved one interviewer, one observer, and one recorder. The interview theme was "What is a desirable death?" Participants were asked "What do you want to achieve before you die?" or "What would a close friend want to experience when death is near?" We then extracted important items related to "desirable death" using serialization and observation records, while also consulting three analysts. The analysis results of the four generations were ultimately integrated into final categories.@*RESULTS@#The most common experience of a familiar death was that of parents, followed by grandparents. Half of participants had witnessed the death. Through category analysis, eight important categories related to desirable death were ultimately extracted. Nine items were identified as common to all generations. While the elderly generation had wide-ranging opinions, the younger generations' opinions tended to concentrate on satisfaction with life and family relations.@*CONCLUSION@#Eight concepts were extracted as important factors of a desirable death from the residents of Kagawa prefecture, Japan.

Enfoque interdisciplinar a la calidad de vida y de muerte en Oncopediatría / Interdisciplinary approach to quality of life and death in Oncopediatrics

Muchos médicos que brindan asistencia a niños y adolescentes con cáncer tributarios de cuidados paliativos fracasan al intentar curar la enfermedad y con ello prolongar la vida y en ese intento poblado de buenas intensiones pero carente de profesionalidad y ética es que se convierten en fuentes de sufrimientos para los pacientes, familiares y hasta para el propio equipo de trabajo al mantener una conducta de obstinamiento terapéutico en la mayoría de los casos; en otros, aún cuando comprenden la realidad de una muerte próxima no hacen un manejo adecuado de los factores psicológicos, espirituales y sociales para ayudar a un buen morir. ¿Es calidad de vida, en una persona que está al final de su vida o es calidad de muerte hasta el último momento de su existencia?; en otras palabras son cuidados por la vida al final de la vida y para ello se necesita de un manejo terapéutico adecuado del proceso vivir/morir en estos grupos de edades, objetivos de este artículo, donde las características del desarrollo ontogénico lo hace ser más difícil que en los adultos. Es una tarea dura y difícil, para la cual necesitamos de preparación y un verdadero trabajo interdisciplinario pero gratificante y de gran aportación a nuestro crecimiento personal, porque ¿existirá una tarea más noble y humana que acompañar a niños y adolescente en los últimos días de su existencia por la vida?(AU)

Many physicians offering assistance to children and adolescents presenting cancer needed of palliative care fail trying to cure the disease and thus to extend the life and in that attempt of good intentions but lacking of professionalism and ethics become suffering sources for patients, relatives and for the working staff for maintaining a therapeutic obstinacy in most cases; in other, even though they understand the reality of a near death don't make an appropriate management of psychological , spiritual and social factors to help in a good death. Is it quality of life, is it a person ending its life or it is death quality until the last moment of its existence? , in other words, are cares for life at the end of the life and thus it is necessary an appropriate therapeutic management of the to live/to die in these age groups, which are the objective of present paper, where the features of ontogeny development make it more difficult than in the adult ones. It is a hard and difficult task, being necessary training and a real interdisciplinary work but at the same time rewarding and of a great contribution to our personal growth, because, there will be a more noble and human task that to be the company of children in the last days of existence by the life?(AU)