Pam Malloy

End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) training program: Improving palliative care in critical care

The integration of palliative care in critical care settings is essential to improve care of the dying, and critical care nurses are leaders in these efforts. However, lack of education in providing end-of-life (EOL) care is an obstacle to nurses and other healthcare professionals as they strive to deliver palliative care. Education regarding pain and symptom management, communication strategies, care at the end of life, ethics, and other aspects of palliative care are urgently needed. Efforts to increase EOL care education in most undergraduate and graduate nursing curricula are beginning; yet, most critical care nurses have not received formal training in palliative care. Moreover, educational resources such as critical care nursing textbooks often contain inadequate information on palliative care. The ELNEC-Critical Care program provides a comprehensive curriculum that concentrates on the requirements of those nurses who are working in areas of critical care. Extensive support materials include CD-ROM, binder, Web sites, newsletters, textbooks, and other supplemental items. The ultimate goal is to improve EOL care for patients in all critical care settings and enhance the experience of family members witnessing the dying process of their loved ones.

Evaluation of end-of-life nursing education for continuing education and clinical staff development educators.

This article presents data from the 1-year follow-up of the three conferences targeted toward continuing education (CE) providers and staff development (SD) educators and reviews the train-the-trainer model used in disseminating the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curriculum. The analysis has implications for educators to promote improved end-of-life (EOL) care in their own institutions.

Oncology End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium training program: improving palliative care in cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To describe an evaluation of the oncology version of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC-Oncology) training program, which is designed to provide oncology nurses with the knowledge and materials necessary to disseminate palliative care information to their colleagues in local chapters of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS). DATA SOURCES Participant reports. DATA SYNTHESIS 124 nurses representing 74 ONS chapters attended the first two courses. Dyads of ONS members from local chapters applied to attend ELNEC and completed surveys regarding their goals and expectations for implementing end-of-life (EOL) education and training after completion of the program. Participants educated more than 26,000 nurses after attending the program, including 7,593 nurses within their ONS chapters and 18,517 colleagues within their workplaces. Barriers to implementation included a lack of funding and time constraints. Participants sought additional palliative care learning opportunities, including attending other workshops, subscribing to palliative care journals, and becoming involved in committees focused on palliative care. CONCLUSION The ELNEC-Oncology program is a national collaboration with ONS that provides oncology nurses with the tools and expertise to effectively disseminate palliative care content to colleagues within their local chapters and work settings. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING EOL care information remains critical to the science of oncology nursing, and ELNEC-Oncology provides an effective strategy for disseminating the information.

End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium: 5 Years of Educating Graduate Nursing Faculty in Excellent Palliative Care

Since January 2001, over 4,500 nurses, representing all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, have attended 1 of 50 national End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) train-the-trainer courses. Of the 4,500 nurses who have attended a national ELNEC course, 300 graduate nursing faculty members participated in one of four National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant-funded courses, ELNEC-Graduate, that focused on the needs of faculty teaching graduate nursing students. These nursing faculty members represent every state in the United States and 278 (63%) out of 438 graduate nursing programs. The final NCI-funded ELNEC-Graduate course took place in June 2006. Due to the continued need for this education, additional courses were offered at the 2007 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) masters conference, and another course was presented in February 2008 at the same AACN meeting. The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of the ELNEC-Graduate project and to demonstrate its impact in empowering graduate nursing faculty members to improve their teaching methods and strategies regarding end-of-life (EOL)/palliative care education. Because of ELNEC-Graduate, graduate nursing faculty members are better equipped to provide this education to their students so that these students are prepared to care for patients and their families experiencing EOL/palliative care issues.

The Preparation of Oncology Nurses in Palliative Care

OBJECTIVES To address the opportunities for oncology nurses to prepare for and provide palliative care support to cancer patients and families. DATA SOURCES A review of the literature as well as synthesis of the experiences of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium over the past 10 years (2000-2010) were considered in summarizing implications for palliative care education in oncology. CONCLUSION Cancer patients and their families across the cancer trajectory experience serious physical and psychosocial symptoms and spiritual concerns. Oncology nurses have contributed to the evolving field of palliative care, and the continued education of oncology nurses in this specialty is essential to quality care for patients and families IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE The need for palliative care in oncology will intensify in the future, and effective strategies for education are necessary to prepare the nursing workforce for the effective and compassionate care that patients and families deserve.

The end of life nursing education nursing consortium project

In 2000, the City of Hope Medical Center and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) developed the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)-Core curriculum to educate nurses and other healthcare professionals on end of life care, so that attention to the dying could be improved and their unique needs addressed. Since its inception, over 19,500 nurses and other professionals have attended the ELNEC train-the-trainer courses. Upon course completion, the participants, often nurse educators, returned to their schools, healthcare systems, and communities and introduced the ELNEC content into nursing curricula, annual competencies, and new employee orientation. In 2005, the national ELNEC Project Team concluded that an international curriculum should be developed. The first ELNEC International course was launched in 2006 in Salzburg, Austria. Since that time, trainers have come from 85 countries world-wide, and the curriculum has been translated into eight languages. In 2015, three international courses will be presented: in Beijing, China, Kipkaren, Kenya, and Salzburg, Austria.

Advancing palliative care in Kenya

Background: Life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other disorders are prevalent in the developing world, including Kenya. Objective: The aim of this project was to assist in the development of palliative care throughout Kenya by enhancing the knowledge and skill of faculty members in palliative care so they could integrate this content into existing nursing curricula. Methods: In an effort to develop palliative care throughout the country, experts from the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association and the Kenyatta National Hospital invited faculty from the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium with the United States to adopt the content of its training program to address the needs of nurses and other health care professionals in Kenya. This curriculum was delivered to nursing faculty from throughout Kenya during a 5-day training course that incorporated presentations, case studies, exercises, and other teaching methods. Results: The course participants completed daily course evaluations in which they rated each session on a scale of 0 = not helpful to 5 = very helpful. All of the sessions were rated very favorably, with scores for all sessions across the 5 days ranging from 4.57 to 4.91. Conclusion: End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium provided educational and other support to faculty teaching in nursing schools in Kenya so they could advance palliative care efforts in this country. Implications for Practice: Nurses working in the United States can share their expertise and learn immense lessons from colleagues in developing worlds.

Statewide efforts to improve palliative care in critical care settings.

n a 2004 study, researchers found that almost 20% of American deaths occur in a critical care setting or shortly after a critical care stay. Historically, the focus of critical care has been primarily on curative therapies, and death has been viewed as failure. Now, awareness of the need to integrate palliative care in critical care settings has increased. The challenges to providing quality end-oflife care include the hectic, fast-paced environment; different perceptions among team members regarding the patient’s goals of care as far as aggressive treatment versus seeking limited or no treatment; communication barriers between health care professionals, patients, and patients’ families; and a lack of research on improvements in the care of the dying in critical care settings. Often, because of these and other barriers, pain and other symptoms Statewide Efforts to Improve Palliative Care in Critical Care Settings

Promoting Palliative Care Worldwide Through International Nursing Education

Many challenges exist when providing international education to those who care for people at the end of life. Though issues related to culture and language may vary, the one commonality that crosses all nations is that its people die. In general, societies seek to provide the best care they are trained to give. Many have few resources to provide this care well. Traditions of the past influence norms and dictate policies and procedures of the present. Since its inception in 2000, the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Project has provided palliative care education to nurses and other members of the interdisciplinary team in six of the seven continents. This article describes the efforts of this project to improve education around the globe, with the goal of providing excellent, compassionate palliative care, irrespective of location, financial status, political views, religion, race, and/or ethnicity.

CARES: AACN's New Competencies and Recommendations for Educating Undergraduate Nursing Students to Improve Palliative Care

Nurses spend the most time of any health care professional caring for patients and families dealing with the challenges of serious illness. The demand for nursing expertise in palliative care is growing as more people are living with chronic, life-limiting illnesses. Nursing faculty must prepare future nurses to meet this demand. The new American Association of Colleges of Nursing Palliative Competencies And Recommendations for Educating undergraduate nursing Students document, released February 2016, identifies the 17 competencies that all undergraduate nursing students should achieve by the time of graduation. This historic document is a revision of the 1998 American Association of Colleges of Nursing Peaceful Death document and is now the guiding framework for undergraduate nursing education. In an effort to support nursing faculty and prepare nursing students to deliver quality palliative care, an innovative, interactive on-line undergraduate End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curriculum is under development and will be released in January 2017. This new curriculum will meet the competencies and recommendations for achieving those competencies outlined in the Competencies And Recommendations for Educating undergraduate nursing Students document.