Issues and Solutions with the Care of End−of−Life Cancer Patients at Home from the Perspective of Visiting Nurses

Abstract

Abstract

The objective of the study was to clarify the issues related to the care of end-of-life cancer patients at home from the perspective of visiting nurses, as well as to clarify the measures implemented in response to the identified issues. The subjects of this study were 25 visiting nurses working full time at visiting nurse stations in the Kanto region of Japan and who have worked with at least 3 patients with cancer in the last year. About one-half of these nurses have 10 or more years of experience as a visiting nurse, and 19 nurses have been involved with 10 or more cancer patients. The issues related to the care of end-of-life cancer patients at home were identified by a semi-structured interview, and these issues were classified into the following 11 categories：doctors, family, care environment, nurses, feeling of burden experienced by the visiting nurse, workers of other occupations, patient, cooperation, operation of the visiting nurse station, adjustments of opinions between the parties involved, and economic burden of use. Furthermore, measures that can be implemented by the visiting nurses in response were clarified for each of the identified issues. The clarification of issues and the investigation of possible countermeasures will lead to high-quality care of end-of-life cancer patients at home, which then, as a result, will lead to the satisfaction of patients and their families.