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Biomedical subjects

K Redmond

Publications and source records attributed to K Redmond.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The EONS core curriculum revision project.

This paper provides an overview of the EONS (European Oncology Nursing Study) core curriculum revision project. The aim of this project was to revise the EONS core curriculum for a Post-Basic Course in Cancer Nursing, first published in 1989, so that it would better reflect patient and family need and contemporary cancer nursing practice. A further aim of the project was to address the educational needs of both adult and paediatric oncology nurses. To achieve these aims a core curriculum revision meeting was organized and attended by representatives from most of the EU Member States. A rough draft of the core curriculum was developed, circulated and subjected to further scrutiny and modification. Following approval of the final draft, the core curriculum was translated from English into the 10 other official EU languages and made available in both paper and electronic form. The updated core curriculum was launched during the ECCO-10 conference and has now been disseminated widely amongst European cancer nurses and the wider nursing and medical community.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Nursing in Colorectal Cancer Initiative: the audit phase. Part 2. Content validity of the audit tool and implications of the standards set for clinical practice.

This paper gives an account of the process of refining the content validity of an audit tool, which defines and measures best practice in colorectal cancer nursing and identifies areas for development. The European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) and AstraZeneca collaborated to develop the Nursing in Colorectal Cancer Initiative (NICCI). The initiative was funded through educational grants from AstraZeneca and led by EONS. It is a project with two components, education and audit. The education component culminated in a manual that provides a core set of materials concerning fundamental aspects of colorectal cancer, to foster a common understanding amongst nurses at national and international levels. An audit tool was developed to measure standards of nursing care in relation to the delivery of cytotoxic chemotherapy to patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The content validity of the audit tool was established in three stages by expert panel review with revisions made to the content and organisation of the audit measures at each stage. The standards set by the NICCI Audit Project have key implications for multi-professional practice in colorectal cancer care.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Nursing in Colorectal Cancer Initiative--the audit phase. Part 1. Development of the audit tool.

This paper describes the structure of an audit study together with the two-phase development of an audit tool and methodology. The purpose of the study was to develop a tool that defines and measures best practice in colorectal cancer nursing, and identifies areas for development. The European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) and AstraZeneca collaborated to develop the Nursing in Colorectal Cancer Initiative (NICCI). The initiative was funded through educational grants from AstraZeneca and led by EONS. It is a project with two components, education and audit. The purpose of the project is to provide a sound educational basis for nurses in the elements of colorectal cancer care, together with the tools to evaluate and develop practice. The education phase culminated in an educational manual that provides a core set of materials concerning the fundamental aspects of colorectal cancer, to foster a common understanding amongst nurses nationally and internationally. The education manual provided the referenced rationale for the definition of a set of hallmarks and standards of clinical practice. The audit tool was developed from the hallmarks and standards and is focused on the care of patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. The audit methodology is based on the structure, process outcome triad, together with the TELER system of audit.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Caring About Women and Cancer (CAWAC): a European survey of the perspectives and experiences of women with female cancers.

This paper reports on the findings of the largest ever European survey of female patients' perceptions of their cancer treatment. It has provided clarification of what women consider important in relation to their management and has identified several areas where more research is needed. It has shown that women's knowledge about cancer before diagnosis is poor and the number undergoing regular screening could be improved. Women are not being adequately prepared and educated about what to expect from treatment and steps should be taken as a matter of urgency to redress this shortcoming. It was revealed that whilst families were the primary source of support to female cancer patients, women also derive considerable support from healthcare professionals, particularly senior doctors; more attention should be paid by specialists and nurses to developing psychological skills to cope with this. In this context, further research is needed into how support groups may best meet patient needs.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1998

Assessing patients' needs and preferences in the management of advanced colorectal cancer.

Clinical decision-making in advanced cancer is a highly complex process. Many factors are thought to influence this process arguably the most important of these is the patient's own preference. Studies show that most patients want to be fully informed as to their diagnosis and involved in clinical decision-making. However, the attitudes of healthcare workers often preclude patient involvement. Studies have also shown that acceptability of chemotherapy for minimal therapeutic gain differs markedly between patients depending on factors such as age, gender and family status. It is clearly impossible to make decisions about what is best for patients without involving them in the decision-making process. Indeed, it could be argued that active patient participation actually simplifies this process.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Treatment choices in advanced cancer: issues and perspectives.

Treatment choices are difficult in advanced cancer, a disease in which there is little chance of a cure and in which the aim of treatment is usually to achieve palliation. With the clinical evidence and quality-of-life instruments currently available, it may be difficult to decide whether the burdens of cytotoxic chemotherapy are outweighed by its benefits. However, in some cancers, such as advanced colorectal cancer, there is evidence to demonstrate that chemotherapy is justified, with overall benefit to the patient. There are, nevertheless, many factors to be considered in the selection of the best possible care for each patient. These include the availability of new treatments with improved tolerability profiles, resource implications, quality of life and survival benefits (and how to assess them), the willingness or otherwise of patients to undergo chemotherapy, and information and participation preferences among patients. The differing attitudes of health care professionals and groups of patients add to the complexity of this issue. Guidelines offer one way of promoting the consistent and optimal management of patients with advanced cancer; however, individual patient choice will always take precedence over guidelines which, by definition, are devised with common needs in mind.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1997

The European Code against cancer: what now?

To coincide with the Cancer Code conference taking place in Chester this week, this article looks at the 'Europe against cancer' programme established by the European Commission to address one of the most important public health problems faced by the EU.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Organizational barriers in opioid use.

Despite the fact that we have both the means and the knowledge to ameliorate most forms of pain effectively, a significant number of cancer patients still experience unacceptable levels of pain. This paper sets out to explore the nature of the various organizational barriers to effective pain management. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that both physicians and nurses lack knowledge regarding modern methods of pain control. This situation not only results in poor clinical decision making, but has also spawned a number of extraordinary myths and misconceptions about the use of opioids. Such myths and misconceptions often result in significant undermedication of the patient's pain. Problems can also exist with continuity of care--the patient may be seen by a number of different physicians across a number of different health care settings where no one person is willing to take responsibility for the overall management of the patient's pain. Further fragmentation can occur due to lack of communication between the hospital and the community care setting. This problem can be compounded by incomplete and inconsistent documentation of pain. An important and often overlooked problem relating to opioid use is the existence of bureaucratic regulations governing the supply, prescription and administration of opioids in many countries world wide. There appears to be a real fear that liberalizing many of these regulations will result in an increase in illicit drug use. This paper will conclude with a discussion on ways in which the above-mentioned organizational barriers can be overcome.

Analgesics, Opioid↗
PubMed1997

The need for endpoints in anticancer drug trials that will simplify the clinical decision-making process.

The endpoints relating to antitumour effect which are commonly used are limited in that they give no information about the effect of the treatment on the person with cancer. This is particularly important in those many situations where cure is not a viable option. The use of quality of life as an endpoint may help to overcome this problem, but limitations remain. New endpoints, which simplify the clinical decision-making process in terms of the potential impact of treatment on the individual patient, are now needed. A variety of factors must be considered when evaluating the efficacy of an anticancer agent, including such issues as whether the drug is easy to use. Despite the complications this will present, in terms of the planning and implementing of clinical trials, the long-term benefits to patients and healthcare professionals would fully justify the investment of time and multidisciplinary expertise involved.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1996

The needs of relative visiting adult critical care units as perceived by relatives and nurses. Part I.

This was a descriptive study, aimed at identifying the needs of relatives while they were visiting adult critical care units. A convenience sample of 24 critical care units participated, involving 351 critical care nurses and 255 visiting relatives. Using an adaptation of Molter's Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, the objectives of the study were: To compare (in ranking order) relatives' perceptions of how important their needs were with how important critical care nurses perceived them to be. To identify how satisfied relatives were with how their needs were met, while visiting the unit. To compare who relatives perceived to be the most appropriate person to fulfill each of their needs, with who nurses assessed to be the most appropriate person to fulfill the relatives needs. Relatives highlighted the importance of re-assurance and their need for sufficient information about their family member. Critical care nurses were only moderately accurate in assessing how important relatives' needs were, according to the findings from this relatives' group. Relatives were 'satisfied' with how the majority of their needs had been met. Only 10 of the 30 needs were considered to have been met to 'very satisfactory' level by at least 60% of the sample group. Nurses were identified by relatives as being the most appropriate person to fulfil 19 out of the 30 needs. Whereas nurses perceived themselves to be the most appropriate people to fulfill 25 of the 30 needs for relatives. The implications for clinical practice are also discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Advances in supportive care.

A range of distressing symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea and pain, which invariably impair quality of life, may develop in cancer patients as a result of their disease and treatment. The side-effects of cancer treatments place additional burdens on the patient. Patients indicate that they find nausea and vomiting and fatigue to be the most distressing symptoms. The burden of distressing symptoms and the side-effects of cancer treatments may be so great for some patients that they make a decision not to continue with treatment. Developing better methods of managing these complaints is critical for improving both quality of life and treatment outcome. Over the past two decades there have been dramatic advances in supportive care. The most significant advances have occurred in the general approach to symptom management and in the development of new pharmacological agents. Advances have also occurred in non-pharmacological approaches to supportive care and it is now acknowledged that interventions such as patient education and complementary therapies have an important role to play in ameliorating distressing symptoms.

Fatigue↗
PubMed1979

Effects of clinician behaviors on acceptability of patients' responses in aphasia treatment sessions.

Records of the content of 40 videotaped samples of aphasia treatment sessions were prepared. These records were analyzed to determine (a) whether certain clinician behaviors and task characteristics are related to the occurrence of patient error responses in speech and language treatment sessions for aphasic individuals, and (b) whether "errors generate errors"; that is, whether error responses tend to occur in clusters rather than being distributed uniformly throughout the treatment session. The results of these analyses indicated that a number of event categories were significantly related to the occurrence of unacceptable patient responses. These results suggest that certain clinician behaviors generate patient error responses and also that clinicians tend to response to patient errors in characteristic ways. An analysis of these results also confirmed that unacceptable patient responses tended to occur in clusters.

Aphasia↗