| Popis: |
The purpose of this study was to establish the identity of a syndrome related to nursing care of the terminally ill patient, regardless of a malignant or non-malignant disease origin. The sample consisted of completed medical records of 15 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and 15 cancer patients. The commonalities between the two groups are: (1) Defining Characteristics--dyspnea, anxiety, abnormal breath sounds, dry skin, pale skin, pain, anorexia, presence of pressure sores, incontinence, and generalized edema; (2) Nursing Diagnoses--high risk for altered respiratory function, anxiety (individual and family), skin integrity (impaired and high risk for impaired), altered comfort: pain, high risk for infection: related to intravenous therapy, high risk for injury: trauma (falls), and altered nutrition: less than body requirements; (3) Nursing Interventions--from the above nursing diagnoses associated interventions were studied. Agreement between the two groups in chosen interventions ranged from 27% to 48%. A clustering of data has been documented to support the establishment of Terminal Syndrome. |
