Investigation on good death status of terminally ill cancer patients and the influence factor

Abstract

Objective To explore the good death status of terminally ill cancer patients from the nurses' perspective and identify associated factors. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the nurses in charge of the patients within 3 months after their death to evaluate the status quo of patients with end-stage cancer from the perspective of nurses, using anonymous questionnaire. Using convenient sampling method, 101 competent nurses from 209 patients with end-stage tumors who died in a hospital from October 2017 to January 2018 were selected. The nurses were investigated with nurses' general information questionnaire, patient information questionnaire and Good Death Inventory (GDI). Single factor analysis, Pearson correlation and multivariate linear regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of good death in patients with end-stage cancer. Results The total score of GDI was (243.00±39.21). Among GDI, the three lowest scores were independence (7.43±4.25), physical and psychological comfort (8.17±4.82), and religious and spiritual comfort (8.53±4.72); while the three highest scores were being respected as an individual (18.32±2.76), good relationship with medical staff (18.23±2.59), and natural death (17.97±3.42). There were significant differences in patients' death status among different departments, medical payment methods, professional training experience of competent nurses and treatment methods within 3 months before death (t=17.351, 2.158, -2.679, -2.993; P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that nurse working life was positively correlated with the total score of GDI (r=0.953, P<0.01). Regression analysis showed that the factors influencing the good death of patients with end-stage cancer were the department of oncology medicine, the way of treatment and the professional training experience of nurses (P<0.05). Conclusions The overall status of good death of terminally ill cancer patients is poor. To strengthen the palliative care training about the knowledge and skills helps to improve the nursing quality of end-of-life care and achieve the goal of good death. Key words: Neoplasms; Nurses; Good death; Palliative care