The Development of Palliative Care Model for Cancer Patients

Abstract

Palliative care has reflected the quality of life of cancer patients. This research and development aimed to  develop a palliative care model for cancer patient in Health Region 2, during October 2016 to November 2017. This research was divided into 3 phases. Phase 1: surveyed of palliative care condition for cancer patients  from 363 registered nurses in the Health Region 2 combined with qualitative research from interviews with  10 cancer care nurses and 30 patients with families undergoing treatment at the Buddhahinaraj Phitsanulok  hospital. Phase 2: developed the palliative care model for cancer patient. And, phase 3: applied and evaluated the palliative care model for cancer patient. The data were collected from 81 registered nurses in Phitsanulok, 39 registered nurses in Buddhachinaraj Phitsanulok hospital and 36 patients who had Palliative Performance  Scale (PPS) ≤ 70 and their caregivers. The instruments were palliative care knowledge measurement, pain  evaluation form and questionnaires on satisfaction of the caregivers and nurses. The data analysis used  frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. The results after the model tested were, the registered nurses had more knowledge, the patients' pain were reduced, the registered  nurses' satisfaction towards the palliative care model were high as well as the caregivers' satisfaction towards the palliative care were also high. In conclusion, the palliative care model for cancer patients has results on pain reducing of cancer patients, nurses and caregivers has high satisfaction towards this model