Development and psychometric properties of the Person-centered Palliative Care Nursing Instrument (PPCNI) in the Philippines.

Background: Over the years, a few tools and instruments have been developed to assist in the assessment within a palliative care setting. However, many of these tools and instruments do not reflect a person-centered palliative care model. Objective: This study aims to develop a Person-centered Palliative Care Nursing Instrument (PPCNI) in the Philippines. Methods: An exhaustive search of the literature was conducted to develop a pool of items for the instrument. The validity of the instrument was evaluated using the content validity index (CVI), while the factor structure was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using maximum likelihood estimation with Promax rotation. Also, the internal reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Results: EFA yielded three factors: 1) Caring as maintaining person's dignity (13 items), 2) caring as empowerment of person's autonomy (14 items), and 3) caring as understanding person's momentary concerns (10 items). Whereas the internal consistency reliability of these subscales appeared excellent (i.e., 0.95, 0.96, and 0.93, respectively), the Cronbach's alpha for the overall scale was 0.98. The item-total correlation coefficients were >0.30 for all items, ranging from 0.310 to 0.726. Conclusion: Findings support a three-factor, 37-item PPCNI that can be used in clinical practice to ensure that nurses provide palliative care based on patient needs and preferences.

Cultural Perspectives on Pain Assessment and Opioid Use: International Neuroscience Nursing Research Symposium Conference Proceedings.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: In August of 2020, the 4th International Neuroscience Nursing Research Symposium was held. The purpose of the symposium was to share neuroscience nursing research from around the world. One of the topics thought most notable that stimulated a crucial conversation was how different countries assessed pain and their use of opioids for pain management. BACKGROUND: Neuroscience nurses are global. What is not known is their experience with and what challenges exist with pain management for human beings in their country. Crossing geographic and cultural boundaries, pain affects all human beings. Each culture has unique values and beliefs regarding pain. Patient barriers, pivotal in this article, included poverty, poor health literacy, opioid phobia, and cultural as well as social beliefs. RESULTS: Neuroscience nurses from Australia, Brazil, Germany, Singapore, India, Ghana, Kenya, Philippines, South Africa, and the United States each collaborated to provide a short summary of assessing pain and use of opioids for pain management for the neuroscience patient. CONCLUSION: Neuroscience patients have varying degrees of pain based on many factors. Various countries have religious, spiritual, and cultural traditions that influence the reporting and management of pain. Pain assessment and management can be challenging, especially for the neuroscience nurses around the world.

Critical Care Nursing in the Philippines: Historical Past, Current Practices, and Future Directions.

This article provides a brief background on critical care nursing in the Philippines, its trend on current practice, and its implication and future direction. An overview is given on the milieu and processes inherent in the critical care unit with the intensive care unit setup taken as its exemplar. The roles and responsibilities of critical care nurses within these units and nature of common issues within their practice is explored. The need for training in communication skills, conflict resolution, and palliative care is implied for these nurses to fully fulfill their roles as collaborative clinician and active patient advocate.

"Lost Touch" : Situating Human-Connectedness in Technology-Caring in the Health Sciences.

The dominant issue of high-tech and high-touch has popularized the supposed dichotomy between technology and caring in health care. In today's highly technological world, the notion of the "lost touch" in human connectedness is clearly within the realm of human caring. Fostered by different technologies facilitating health care work, the process of caring in the human health experience creates unique individual identities as professional practitioners of human care. The argument is centered on technologies as essential in shaping professionalization by redefining practice boundaries and expanding societal roles and contributions. Consequently, the concept of caring is shared as the hallmark of health care professions. An assertion is made that although technology facilitates caring and competency in the human experience, the idea of human-connectedness can seem "lost" - missing in the discourse and practice within the technological world. Human-connectedness is presented as a concept, positioning its role and relevance in the continued dialogical engagement of technology and caring. A contemporary appreciation of reconciling human connectedness as integral to the process of knowing in a technological world bridging the seemingly paradoxical nature of technology and caring is proposed. J. Med. Invest. 66 : 12-14, February, 2019.