Thoughts and feelings of in-patients with advanced terminal cancer: implications for terminal care improvement

The purpose of this study was to clarify how terminally ill patients think and feel while hospitalized, thereby providing some insight into improving the quality of terminal care. The subjects of the study were eight terminally ill patients with cancer. The researchers obtained the patients' consent and their doctors' permission prior to conducting the interviews. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The patients' thoughts and feelings were extracted and then categorized according to particular themes. As a result, we came up with four major categories: maintaining pain control, living an ordinary life, hoping for improvement of physical condition, and having family nearby. The desire to live life to its fullest given their situation, as well as to maintain a hopeful attitude about their future proved very important. The presence of family also played a crucial role. These factors must be taken into consideration in achieving better care for terminally ill patients.