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Biomedical subjects

R McCorkle

Publications and source records attributed to R McCorkle.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Death education.

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Curriculum↗
PubMed1987

A program model for nurses involved with cancer education of black Americans.

In the last 30 years, cancer incidence rates for black Americans have increased 27% in contrast to an increase of 12% for white cancer rates. In answer to this obvious need for intervention to lower the incidence and mortality rates, the Oncology Nursing Society held a one-day workshop which focused on the primary prevention of cancer in black Americans. For the 40 workshop openings, 540 black nurses from 40 states responded to a call for applicants. The impact of the workshop was measured by four pre- and post-tests which provided both qualitative and quantitative data and indicated that the experience made a significant impact on the participants. The workshop content focused on the epidemiology of the cancers which are most frequently found in blacks, cultural attitudes toward these cancers, and techniques for early detection. The success of the workshop was due to the active involvement of the participants in the learning process and serves as a model for training minority nurses for active, creative roles which can be instituted in the community to help lower the high cancer incidence rate among black Americans.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1985

Models of care for persons with progressive cancer.

A need exists for a living-dying model that encompasses hospice care and alternative programs of care for the terminally ill. The existing medical and rehabilitative models are focused in directions that do not allow implementation of continuity of care directed toward supporting patients during the plateaus of their illnesses. Today, society has evolved to value the patient as a consumer of health care who can participate through making informed choices among the rich alternatives of care available. Yet the knowledge and technology base of health care delivery today increases at such a rapid rate that it almost seems out of control. This paradox makes it difficult for the patient-consumer to have access to information necessary for involvement in informed decision making. Greater numbers of consumers of health care are active in assuming responsibility for maintaining wellness. At the same time, they are seeking health care programs outside the medical model, as well as within the medical model. The "high-tech" atmosphere has been tempered with an emphasis on humanism, perhaps as a response to the infusion of machinery into our lives. As health care costs have escalated, concern has mounted that health care costs be contained, and that the poor and the elderly not be further curtailed in access to health care resources. There is tremendous potential among nurses for leadership in the creation of services that support quality of life for cancer patients and families. Nurses, as a collective, must be willing to engage in the politics of negotiation for reallocation of health care resources toward person-centered services and to establish a power base for influencing these decisions at the local, state, and national level of government and within various organizations offering health care services. As person-centered services are established, nurses must also move toward formalizing emergent practices into standards of care. Consumers deserve the protection of practice standards that are developed and sanctioned by the profession. It is also critical to test practice, both as it emerges, and after it has been formalized into standards. Nurses must continue to question the tenets of their practice. For example, what are the outcome effects of monitoring and supporting patients during the chronic phase of the living-dying interval? Is either the severity or the number of problems in the terminal phase reduced by these interventions? Changes in the provision of health services in this past decade have been extensive and broadly based.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1983

Symptom distress, current concerns and mood disturbance after diagnosis of life-threatening disease.

This study describes the level of symptom distress, current concerns and mood disturbance in persons with a diagnosis of one of two life-threatening diseases at two occasions. The sample included 56 lung cancer patients and 65 heart attack patients who completed interviews at 1 and 2 months post diagnosis. Data were obtained using a modified version of the McCorkle and Young Symptom Distress Scale, the Weisman and Worden Inventory of Current Concerns and the Profile of Mood States. One conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that the plight of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients appears to be bleaker than that of heart attack patients. Cancer patients experienced more symptom distress of all kinds than heart attack patients. They also reported more health and existential concerns and they suffered more mood disturbances, on the average, than heart attack patients did. The most striking finding of the mean differences analysis was that, although symptom distress remained the same between occasions for both groups, both kinds of patients reported fewer concerns and better mood at the second interview. Although the plight of neither type of patient improved, patients reported being in better spirits and less worried at the second measurement occasion. This reduction in concerns and mood disturbance between interviews suggests that patients assimilate that their situation is not as immediately life-threatening as they had feared.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

A good death.

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Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1980

Development of a social dependency scale.

Social dependence was defined in terms of three capacities identified as necessary for the performance of an adult role. The three capacities are everyday self-care competence, mobility competence, and social competence. Measurement of these concepts was facilitated through the use of 12 6-point scales (4 for each capacity). Scores were then computed for each capacity (range 4-24) and for all three capacities together (range 12-72). Operationally, social dependence was defined as the sum of the individual's scores in the three areas: everyday self-care competence, mobility competence, and social competence. The revised instrument was tested on 60 subjects with advanced diseases to determine its reliability. The reliability coefficient alpha was .90, and the standardized-item alpha was .91.

Activities of Daily Living↗