Terminological Usage Related to Dyspnea by Nursing Staff: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Survey.

Yuko Nemoto,Sayuri Suzuki,Hiroaki Satoh,Shinichiro Okauchi,Katsunori Kagohashi

doi:10.31372/20190404.1065

Yuko Nemoto, Sayuri Suzuki + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.31372/20190404.1065

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Abstract

In recent years, additional expressions such as ‘sensation of breathing discomfort’ and ‘discomfort of dyspnea’ are being used in daily nursing care in Japan. To better understand the current status of the use of these terms by nurses, and to ascertain what the term ‘dyspnea’ may not express, we designed an original questionnaire and conducted a study with all nurses at our hospital. The questionnaire included questions to determine if nurses used these terms, and in what context. Of the 279 nurses in our hospital, 225 (80.6%) responded. Three-quarters of nurses indicated that they use these terms in clinical nursing practice. There was no difference in the usage of these terms between nurses who had or had not worked in a respiratory outpatients/ward. However, the percentage of nurses using these terms was higher amongst those with 10 years or less nursing experience compared with those with more than 10 years’ experience. Open-ended questions revealed that these terms were used to communicate information between nurses and between nurses and patients’ families. Our observations need to be verified in large-scale studies to determine if these terms are meaningful for nursing practice in that they describe something not expressed with ‘dyspnea’. There is the possibility of confusion due to the use of inappropriate terms and a lack of education on the subject. Many nurses used these terms, and there may be things that the term ‘dyspnea’ could not express. The results of this study can be used to identify something that is lacking in communication about dyspnea between nurses, nurses and patients, and nurses and patients’ families.

Highlights

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) defines dyspnea as “a term used to characterize a subjective experience of ‘breathing discomfort’ that is comprised of qualitatively distinct ‘sensations’ that vary in intensity
182 (80.9%) of the 225 nurses answered that they used the term ‘sensation of breathing discomfort’and 141 (62.7%) used ‘discomfort of dyspnea’
Three-quarters of nurses in our hospital indicated that they use the terms ‘sensation of breathing discomfort’ and ‘discomfort of dyspnea’ in clinical nursing practice

Summary

Introduction

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) defines dyspnea as “a term used to characterize a subjective experience of ‘breathing discomfort’ that is comprised of qualitatively distinct ‘sensations’ that vary in intensity. Dyspnea is the only clinical term that relates to breathing discomfort. One term is ‘kokyu-konnan-kan’ (呼吸困難感) in Japanese (‘kokyu’ means respiration, ‘konnan’ means difficulty, and ‘kan’ means sensation). This seems like an expression that intentionally adds a “feeling” to the term dyspnea and emphasizes ‘sensation’. It is most closely defined by the ATS expression describing the ‘sensation of breathing difficulty’. The second term is ‘kokyu-ku’ (呼吸苦) in Japanese

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Conclusion