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Routine assessment of performance status during palliative chemotherapy when approaching end-of-life
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Radiation Sciences. Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nursing.
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nursing. Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics/Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Radiation Sciences.
2016 (English)In: European Journal of Oncology Nursing, ISSN 1462-3889, E-ISSN 1532-2122, Vol. 21, p. 266-271Article in journal (Refereed) Published
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Abstract [en]

Purpose: Palliative chemotherapy treatment (PCT) offered late in the cancer disease trajectory may be problematic. It is not easy to accurately calculate whether the potential benefits will outweigh the side effects. This study investigates whether routine use of the Performance Status in Palliative Chemotherapy questionnaire (PSPC) affects the proportions of patients receiving PCT during the last month of life, care utilization, and documentation routines. A secondary aim was to gather registered nurses' experiences of the PSPC in routine use.

Methods: Eighty incurable patients with cancer who had used the PSPC before PCT were compared to 160 matched controls, using non-parametric tests. Nurses' reflections on the PSPC were collected and reviewed.

Results: No significant differences were found between users and non-users of the PSPC in terms of proportions receiving PCT during the last month of life. Higher proportions of patients older than 74 years received PCT than in previous studies (40% versus 17%). Nurses considered the questionnaires to be a valuable complement to verbal information when trying to acquire an accurate picture of patients' performance status.

Conclusion: At this point in the development of the PSPC we did not find any significant decreases in the proportion of patients receiving PCT during the last month in life. However, as the nurses valued the PSPC, it can be used as a complementary tool in assessment of performance status until further research is conducted. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 21, p. 266-271
Keywords [en]
Cancer, Case-control study, Chemotherapy, Decision-making, Palliative care, Questionnaire, Rural hospitals
National Category
Cancer and Oncology Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-120635DOI: 10.1016/j.ejon.2015.11.001ISI: 000373412200036Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84959265921OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-120635DiVA, id: diva2:953329
Available from: 2016-08-17 Created: 2016-05-18 Last updated: 2023-03-24Bibliographically approved

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Näppä, UllaLindqvist, OlavAxelsson, Bertil
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