• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.668-677
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• 1996

This study is a phenomenological study done to promote understanding of the dying process in patients with terminal cancer who were in an independent hospice center. The purpose of study was to explore and understand indepth information on the dying process in order to provide data for holistic hospice care in nursing and to give insights in to practical applications in the nursing care In-depth interviewing was done from may, through November, 1995 with 11 patient with cancer who were being cared for at K Hospice Care Center. Experiences in the dying process were discussed as they expressed feelings about death including (a) feeling of isolation because family members try to hide the diagnosis of cancer. (b) hopelessness, (c) guilt, anger, and hostility, (d) suffering from pain, (e) fear of death. However, subjects did not deny death itself and were developing peace of mind and acceptance of death through religion.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.1156-1169
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• 2000

The study was aimed at developing an independent hospice center model that would be best suited for Korea based on a literature review and the current status of local and international hospices. For the study, five local and six international hospice organizations were surveyed. Components of the hospice center model include philosophy, purpose, resources (workers, facilities, and equipment), allocation of resources, management, financial support and hospice team service. The following is a summary of the developed model: Philosophies for the hospice center were set as follows: based on the dignity of human life and humanism, help patients spend the rest of their days in a meaningful way and accept life positively. On the staff side, to pursue a team-oriented holistic approach to improve comfort and quality of life for terminally ill persons and their families. The hospice center should have 20 beds with single, two, and four bed rooms. The center should employ, either on a part-time or full-time basis, a center director, nurses, doctors, chaplains, social workers, pharmacists, dieticians, therapists, and volunteers. In addition, it will need an administrative staff, facility managers and nurses aides. The hospice should also be equipped with facilities for patients, their families, and team members, furnished with equipment and goods at the same level of a hospital. represented by a center director who reports to a board and an advisory committee. Also, the center director administers a steering committee and five departments, namely, Administration, Nursing Service, Social Welfare, Religious Services, and Medical Service. Furthermore, the center should be able to utilize a direct and support delivery systems. The direct delivery system allows the hospice center to receive requests from, or transfer patients to, hospitals, clinics, other hospice organizations (by type), public health centers, religious organizations, social welfare organizations, patients, and their guardians. On the other hand, the support delivery system provides a link to outside facilities of various medical suppliers. In terms of management, details were made with regards to personnel management, records, infection control, safety, supplies and quality management. For financial support, some form of medical insurance coverage for hospice services, ways to promote a donation system and fund raising were examined. Hospice team service to be provided by the hospice center was categorized into assessment, physical care, emotional care, spiritual care, bereavement service, medication, education and demonstrations, medical supplies rental, request service, volunteer service, and respite service. Based on the results, the study has drawn up the following suggestions: 1. The proposed model for a hospice center as presented in the study needs to be tested with a pilot project. 2. Studies on criteria for legal approval and license for a hospice center need to be conducted to develop policies. 3. Studies on developing a hospice charge system and hospice standards that meet local conditions in Korea need to be conducted.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.254-260
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• 2021

Continuous deep sedation (CDS) is an extreme form of palliative sedation to relieve refractory symptoms at the end of life. In this study, we shared our experiences with CDS and examined the clinical characteristics associated with survival in patients with terminal cancer who received CDS. We conducted a chart audit of 106 consecutive patients with terminal cancer who received CDS at a single hospice care unit between January 2014 and December 2016. Survival was defined as the first day of admission to the date of death. The associations between clinical characteristics and survival were presented as hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals using a Cox proportional hazard model. The mean age of participants was 65.2 years, and 33.0% (n=35) were women. Diazepam was the most commonly administered drug, and haloperidol or lorazepam were also used if needed. One sedative was enough for a majority of the patients. Stepwise multivariate analysis identified poor functioning, a high Palliative Prognostic Index score, hyperbilirubinemia, high serum ferritin levels, and a low number of sedatives as independent poor prognostic factors. Our experiences and findings are expected to be helpful for shared decision-making and further research on palliative sedation.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships among emotional intelligence, resilience to burnout, and meaning in life of hospice volunteers. Methods: Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 200 hospice volunteers who were working at hospitals for six months or longer. Data were collected from March 7 to March 31, 2016, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS WIN 22.0. Results: There was a statistically significant correlation between emotional intelligence, resilience to burnout and meaning in life. The significant predictors of hospice volunteers' meaning in life were resilience to burnout(${\beta}=.47$), emotional intelligence(${\beta}=.15$), educational level(college, ${\beta}=.11$), religion(protestant, ${\beta}=.12$; buddhism, ${\beta}=-.15$), and motivation for neighborhood service(${\beta}=.16$). These variables explained meaning in life up to 50.2%. Resilience to burnout was the greatest effective factor on meaning in life. Conclusion: These results suggest a need to develop programs that improve hospice volunteers' emotional intelligence and resilience to burnout. Also, educational level, religion, and service motivation of hospice volunteers should be considered.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate how home-based hospice care is provided in Korea. Methods: From July 2011 through August 2011, 29 hospice facilities that provide home-based hospice care were surveyed using a questionnaire. Items included in the questionnaire were general characteristics of the organization, staff members, service programs, difficulties. Results: Among the surveyed, hospice care was hospital-based for 11 (37.9%) facilities, hospital-independent center-based care for four (13.8%) and home-based care only for 10 (34.5%). Near half the participants were located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Caregivers included nurses for 62.1% of the participants, volunteers 62.0%, pastors 44.8%, social workers 37.9%, coordinators 31.0% and doctors 31.0%. The facilities offered service programs such as family counseling (96.6%), transfer to other facilities (93.1%), psychological support (89.7%), bereavement support (86.2%), dying care (79.3%), clinical care (75.9%) and spiritual support (75.9%). The major obstacles were financial issues (24.1%), lack of trained staff (20.7%) and staff members' lack of awareness of home-based hospice care (13.8%). Conclusion: In Korea, home-based hospice care is provided by an insufficient number of facilities. Moreover, the service providers are experiencing difficulties such as lack of trained staff, insufficient financial resource and staff's lack of awareness of home-based hospice care. It is necessary to increase the number of home-based hospice care facilities with consideration of even distribution across regions and standard staffing and service programs and develop related insurance policies.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.159-168
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the impacts of end-of-life care competency and ethical dilemmas on psychological burnout in nurses who care for terminal cancer patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 160 nurses who cared for terminal cancer patients was conducted. The participants were recruited from the hospice-palliative care wards, hematology or oncology wards, or intensive care units of three general hospitals in a single metropolitan area. Data were collected using a self-administered survey to assess end-oflife care competency, ethical dilemmas, psychological burnout, and general sociodemographic characteristics. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent ttest, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical linear regression analysis using SPSS for Windows (version 26.0). Results: Psychological burnout was significantly correlated with end-of-life care competency (r=-0.23, P=0.003) but not with ethical dilemmas. The results of the hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that endof-life care competency (β=-0.280, P=0.010) and ethical dilemmas (β=0.275, P=0.037) were significant predictors of psychological burnout, after adjusting for age, religious status, clinical experience, and unit type. Conclusion: The current study's findings demonstrate that end-of-life care competency and ethical dilemmas are crucial factors that affect psychological burnout in nurses who care for terminal cancer patients. Substantive education programs must be developed to improve nurses' competencies in end-of-life care and ethical dilemmas to decrease psychological burnout.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare differences in spiritual needs (SNs) and factors influencing SNs between patients with progressive terminal kidney disease and their family caregivers. Methods: An explorative comparative survey was used to identify the SNs of patients (N=102) with progressive terminal kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis and their family caregivers (N=88) at a general hospital located in Seoul, South Korea. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, the independent t-test, one way analysis of variance, the Scheffe test, and multiple regression with dummy variables. Results: The SNs among family caregivers were higher than in the patient group. SNs were higher among those who were religious in both groups. Loving others was the highest-ranked subdimension in the patient group, followed in descending order by maintaining positive perspective, finding meaning, Reevaluating beliefs and life, asking "why?", receiving love and spiritual support, preparing for death, and relating to God. In the family group, the corresponding order was maintaining positive perspective, loving others, finding meaning, receiving love and spiritual support, preparing for death, relating to God, and asking "why?". The factors that had a negative influence on the level of SNs were not being religious in the patient group and having only a middle school level of education in the family group. Conclusion: The results of this study may serve as evidence that spiritual care for non-cancer patients' family caregivers should be considered as an important part of hospice and palliative care.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.235-244
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to provide basic data for developing interventions to relieve the end-of-life care stress experienced by pediatric nurses by examining the relationships of end-of-life care stress with compassionate competence and attitudes toward end-of-life care. Methods: Data were collected via a survey that was conducted from September 10 to September 30, 2018 and administered to 113 nurses who had worked for more than 6 months in a pediatric unit at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea. The data were analyzed for frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and the independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS version 25.0. Results: End-of-life care stress among pediatric nurses had a weak positive correlation (r=0.216, P<0.05) with compassionate competence and had no significant correlation with attitudes toward end-of-life care. Among the sub-factors of end-of-life care stress, psychological difficulties had a weak positive correlation with sensitivity (r=0.309, P<0.01) and communication (r=0.230, P<0.05), which are aspects of compassionate competence. Lack of knowledge about end-of-life care had a weak positive correlation with communication (r=0.209, P<0.05) as an aspect of compassionate competence. Conclusion: To improve the quality of end-of-life care provided by pediatric nurses, it is necessary to improve their compassionate competence and reduce their end-of-life care stress by developing education and support programs tailored to the characteristics of children and specific communication methods.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the current status of pediatric palliative care provision and how it is perceived by the palliative care experts. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted with 61 hospice institutions. From September through October 2017, a questionnaire was completed by experts from the participating institutions. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. Results: Among 61 institutions, palliative care is currently provided for pediatric cancer patients by 11 institutions (18.0%), all of which are concentrated in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi and Gyengsang provinces; 85.2% of all do not plan to provide specialized pediatric palliative care in the future. According to the experts, the main barriers in providing pediatric palliative care were the insufficient number of trained specialists regardless of the delivery type. Experts said that it was appropriate to intervene when children were diagnosed with cancer that was less likely to be cured (33.7%) and to move to palliative care institutions when their conditions worsened (38.2%); and it was necessary to establish a specialized pediatric palliative care system, independent from the existing institutions for adult patients (73.8%). Conclusion: It is necessary to develop an education program to establish a nationwide pediatric palliative care centers. Pediatric palliative care intervention should be provided upon diagnosis rather than at the point of death. Patients should be transferred to palliative care institutions after intervention by their existing pediatric palliative care team at the hospital is started.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2015

Purpose: Predicting life expectancy of terminally ill cancer patients is very important. In many studies, ferritin is detected at higher levels in the sera of cancer patients, and higher ferritin level correlates with aggressiveness of disease and poor outcomes of patients. This study evaluated a prognostic role of serum ferritin levels in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: This study enrolled 65 terminally ill cancer patients from March through June 2012. We assessed routine laboratory findings including serum ferritin levels as well as demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. To examine the association between serum ferritin levels and patient's characteristics, we used Spearman's correlation analysis, Wilcoxon's rank sum test or Kruskal-Wallis test, as appropriately. For multivariate analysis, Cox's proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate significance of serum ferritin levels as a prognostic factor. Results: A negative correlation between serum ferritin levels and survival time was found. After adjusting for sex, age, performance status, creatinine levels and white blood cell counts, serum ferritin levels were significantly associated with survival time. Conclusion: Even at the very end of life of terminal cancer patients, serum ferritin levels were an independent prognostic factor for survival.