“Difficult patients” in the advanced stages of cancer as experienced by nursing staff: A descriptive qualitative study

“Difficult patients”, as labelled by staff members, have been studied for their peculiarities in primary care, family and internal medicine, physiotherapy, psychiatry, dermatology, and dentistry. However, no data has been documented on “difficult patients” in hospice care settings. The aim o f the study was to address the following research questions: (a) When do nursing staff label a patient suffering from advanced cancer as “difficult” in a hospice care setting? (b) What are the problems that the nursing staff face in dealing with them, and (c) What are the specific strategies tha t nursing staff adopt in their daily practice to overcome issues and improve their relationship with “difficult patients”?
Source: European Journal of Oncology Nursing - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research