Research Article
Improvement in the Awareness of Palliative Care Nursing Using STAS-J in an Acute Care Hospital
Tsuyoshi Shirakawa1, Keiko Hikage2, Terumi Akino2, Tomoko Hirata2, Hiroko Shigematsu2, Tomoko Nagaie3, Shuji Arita1, Hiroshi Ariyama1, Hitoshi Kusaba1, Koichi Akashi1 and Eishi Baba4*1Department of Medicine and Biosystemic Science, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan
2Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan
3Fundamental Nursing, Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
4Department of Comprehensive Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
- Corresponding Author:
- Eishi Baba, MD, PhD
Department of Comprehensive Clinical Oncology
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University
3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
Tel: +81-92-642-5228
Fax: +81-92-642-5247
E-mail: e-baba@c-oncology.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Received Date: March 23, 2015; Accepted Date: May 15, 2015; Published Date: May 18, 2015
Citation: Shirakawa T, Hikage K, Akino T, Hirata T, Shigematsu H, et al. (2015) Improvement in the Awareness of Palliative Care Nursing Using STAS-J in an Acute Care Hospital. J Palliat Care Med 5: 219. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000219
Copyright: ©2015 Shirakawa T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The Japanese version of the Support Team Assessment Schedule (STAS-J) in palliative care units is reliable and widely used in Japan. However, there are few reports showing its impact on palliative care in acute care hospitals (ACHs) treating cancer patients. To verify the usefulness of STAS-J in ACHs, we evaluated changes in the awareness of care for patients among 48 nurses in a university hospital using a questionnaire administered before the introduction of STAS-J, after virtual case assessment, and after assessment of the first five inpatients. Statistical examination was performed by the Mann-Whitney U test. Most of the surveyed items, except noticing the anxiety of the patient’s family and information exchange with medical staff other than doctors, were significantly improved after the introduction of STAS-J (p<0.05). Approximately 60% of the nurses had affirmative opinions of STAS-J. The results suggested STAS-J is useful in improving the awareness of palliative care nursing in ACHs.
