Effect of inpatient early palliative care in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients receiving concurrent ;radiochemotherapy / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect of inpatient early palliative care (EPC) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients receiving concurrent radiochemotherapy. Methods Totally 130 NPC patients were divided into the experimental group (64 cases) and the control group (66 cases) according to random digit table. Both groups received routine nursing and anti-cancer therapy, in addition, the experimental group received inpatient EPC. Psychological pain, myelosuppression and hospitalization expenses were compared between two groups. Results After the inpatient EPC intervention, the Distress Thermometer (DT) scores of the control group vs. the experimental group was 3.53±1.45 vs. 4.32±1.29, the scores of quality of life was 86.03±6.24 vs. 101.7±8.82, the incidence of myelosuppression was 95.45% (63/66) vs. 56.25%(36/64), and the hospitalization expenses of the patients was 110 862.82±4 849.58 vs 105 047.75±2 751.41 yuan, there were significant differences between the two groups (t=3.274,-11.665, Z=-6.701, t=8.441, P<0.01 or 0.05). Conclusions Inpatient EPC can be effective in reducing psychological distress, myelosuppression and the hospitalization expenses as well as improving the quality of life in NPC patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy.