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Supportive medical care in life-threatening illness: A pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2016

William C. Young ,
Sheeba R. Nadarajah  and
Ann M. Berger
William C. Young
Affiliation:
Pain and Palliative Care Service, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland
Sheeba R. Nadarajah
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland
Ann M. Berger*
Affiliation:
Pain and Palliative Care Service, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ann M. Berger, Pain and Palliative Care Service, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 10 Center Drive, Building 10, Room 2-1733, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. E-Mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Objective:

The goal of this pilot study was to identify the processes by which healing occurs in patients who experience a life-threatening illness.

Method:

Healing was examined by using two qualitative studies that employed a semistructured interview process (interviews lasted between 30 and 115 minutes). There were 10 cardiac event survivors and 9 cancer survivors. These participants came from a community hospital setting (cardiac), nonmedical holistic services organization (cancer), and a research hospital (cancer). Before participants could take part in the study, they were administered preliminary screening measurements, the first of which was an instrument similar to the Distress Thermometer. Participants then self-reported their positive life-transforming changes. If one to three changes were reported six months after onset of the illness, participants were deemed to have passed the screening. Finally, participants were tested for speaking volume and clarity.

Results:

An overall theme that was prevalent throughout the interviews was medical support. Participants found that their positive, life-transforming changes were typically connected with supportive caregivers who helped to create a culture of care. They also indicated that an absence of this medical supportive care hindered development of such life-transforming changes.

Significance of Results:

Our results indicate that a medical care team will be more effective if a positive culture of care is created. This can be implemented if the team provides comfort, which involves being more engaged in the treatment of patients as well as being more attentive to their psychosocial needs.

Keywords

Medical careCancerCardiac illnessLife-transforming changeQualitative research
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 14 , Issue 6 , December 2016 , pp. 680 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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