International journal of palliative nursing
-
HIV/AIDS has become a chronic and manageable disease owing to the remarkable advancement in medication, and it is now suggested that a palliative approach should be integrated into the trajectory of the disease to alleviate patients' psychosocial distress and optimally improve their quality of life. This article synthesises a body of literature to highlight several clinical and systematic challenges that should be addressed in implementing a palliative approach to care for HIV/AIDS patients. ⋯ To inform current practice in the palliative care domain, responses to the identified challenges are discussed. A disease stage-specific model is also presented to respond to the prolonged course of HIV/AIDS.
-
To measure how comfortable hospice nurses in New Zealand are in conducting spiritual assessment and explore potentially associated factors. ⋯ These findings underscore the importance of training and show how nurses can be comfortable with and capable of assessing patient spirituality.
-
International expert consensus is that psychosocial intervention is likely to help advanced cancer patients and their family carers affected by weight loss and poor appetite. ⋯ This preliminary study of MAWE suggests that it provides benefits as a supportive intervention. Further testing is warranted using a more robust experimental design.
-
This paper describes the development of a tool for palliative care nurses to initiate and facilitate advance care planning (ACP) conversations in community palliative care practice. Seven community palliative care services located across Australia participated in a multi-site action research project. Data included participant observation, individual and focus group interviews with palliative care health professionals, and medical record audit. ⋯ From this framework a Conversation Starter Tool for ACP was developed. The Tool was then used in orientation and continuing nurse education programmes. It provided palliative care nurses the opportunity to introduce and progress ACP conversations.