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American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Essentials: Core Concepts for Professional Nursing Education (2021) established four spheres of care across the lifespan with diverse populations, one of which is hospice/palliative/supportive care. A team of palliative nursing leaders and nurse educators sought to evaluate alignment of the new Essentials with existing palliative care competency statements. The rigorous process resulted in the revision of these palliative care competency statements to align with the new Essentials more accurately. The second edition of the Competencies And Recommendations for Educating nursing Students (CARES) reflect updated palliative care expectations for entry-to-practice nursing students. Similarly, second edition Graduate Competencies And Recommendations for Educating nursing Students (G-CARES) statements describe advanced-level student competency. The team also aligned CARES/G-CARES (2nd ed.) with the Domains, Competencies, Sub-Competencies, and Concepts of the new Essentials. The updated palliative care competency statements can guide faculty in integrating palliative care education into their programs and assessing alignment of programmatic outcomes with AACN's Essentials hospice/palliative/supportive care sphere of care. • Palliative care is one of four spheres of care in the AACN Essentials. • Revised competency statements (CARES/G-CARES) guide palliative care education. • Revised CARES/G-CARES statements are mapped to the new Essentials. • Supporting documents aid faculty in implementing Essentials palliative care sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advanced practice registered nursing students need primary palliative care education to care for the growing number of patients with serious illness and their families and to fill the serious resource gaps in specialty palliative care. Problem: There has been a lack of primary palliative care education in most graduate nursing programs and little direction as to competencies and essential content. Approach: In an effort to support faculty to teach palliative care content, the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) has created an online curriculum that meets the new American Association of Colleges of Nursing Graduate--Competencies and Recommendations for Educating Nursing Students in primary palliative care for master's degree and doctor of nursing practice students. Outcomes: During the first 9 months of its release, more than 170 nursing programs have accessed the ELNEC Graduate curriculum, and there have been more than 200 student completions. Conclusion: Primary palliative care education is essential for all advanced practice nursing students. The new ELNEC Graduate curriculum offers the opportunity to provide quality education remotely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses require knowledge and skill to meet the unique needs of infants and families. Increasingly, principles of palliative care are being integrated into the NICU setting to improve the quality of care.Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the efforts of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project and its Pediatric Curriculum, which began in 2003 to provide this education, and to also describe efforts by nurses to implement the training into their practice settings.Methods: The ELNEC Pediatric Palliative Care (ELNEC-PPC) project is a train-the-trainer educational program and evidence-based curriculum.Findings/results: Participants attend a course or receive online training and then apply the education to implement improved practices in areas such as symptom management, care at the time of death, and bereavement support for families.Implications For Research: Experiences with ELNEC-PPC have demonstrated that nurses can implement the curriculum to improve care.Implications For Practice: Continued attention to palliative care in this setting is needed, and future research is needed to evaluate the outcomes of this education and practice change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To review literature on the relationship of pain, spirituality, and suffering as it relates to the patient with cancer who is experiencing pain. Data Sources: Peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, internet. Conclusion: Pain and suffering are distinct and yet closely related in patients with cancer. Oncology nurses are important in assessing a patient's pain, including dimensions of spirituality and suffering. Implications for Nursing Practice: Oncology nurses are the front line of pain management for patients. This includes recognizing existential distress and suffering and responding to suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the rapidly growing number of patients facing serious, life-limiting illnesses, there is an increasing demand for palliative care. This manuscript focuses on the development and implementation of an innovative online nursing curriculum that prepares nursing students with the essential primary palliative nursing skills they need by graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) faculty play a critical role in preparing students to meet the complex needs of the nation as the number of cancer rates and survivors rise (National Cancer Institute, 2018) and as an unprecedented number of older Americans enter into the healthcare system with complicated comorbidities (Whitehead, 2016). Palliative care has dramatically expanded over the past decade and has been increasingly accepted as a standard of care for people with cancer and other serious, chronic, or life-limiting illnesses. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are recognized as important providers of palliative care (Walling et al., 2017). A 2-day course was held with support from the National Cancer Institute to enhance integration of palliative oncology care into DNP curriculum. The course participants (N = 183), consisting of DNP faculty or deans, practicing DNP clinicians, and students, received detailed annotated slides, case studies, and suggested activities to increase student engagement with the learning process. Course content was developed and delivered by palliative care experts and DNP faculty skilled in curriculum design. Participants were required to develop goals on how to enhance their school's DNP curriculum with the course content. They provided updates regarding their progress at integrating the content into their school's curriculum at 6, 12, and 18 months post course. Results demonstrated an increase in incorporating oncology palliative care in DNP scholarly projects and clinical opportunities. Challenges to inclusion of this content in DNP curricula included lack of: perceived time in curriculum; faculty educated in palliative care; and available clinical sites. Highlights • Palliative care is an essential component of quality cancer care. • APRNs are important providers of palliative for people with cancer. • Faculty education supported integration of palliative care content in DNP programs. • Barriers: lack of time in curriculum, prepared faculty, and clinical sites [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplemental digital content is available in the text. Research has demonstrated that patients facing serious, life-limiting illnesses and their families benefit from receiving palliative care. Increasingly, however, specialty palliative care has limited resources. Prelicensure nursing students who are educated to provide primary palliative care to patients with serious illness and at the end of life can fill that gap. This article describes the development and implementation of an innovative online nursing curriculum that prepares students with essential primary palliative nursing knowledge and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To describe a family caregiver communication typology and demonstrate identifiable communication challenges among four caregiver types: Manager, Carrier, Partner, and Lone. Data Sources Case studies based on interviews with oncology family caregivers. Conclusion Each caregiver type demonstrates unique communication challenges that can be identified. Recognition of a specific caregiver type will help nurses to adapt their own communication to provide tailored support. Implications for Nursing Practice Family-centered cancer care requires attention to the communication challenges faced by family caregivers. Understanding the challenges among four family caregiver communication types will enable nurses to better address caregiver burden and family conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of a Self-Management Survivorship Care Planning (SM-SCP) intervention in colorectal and lung cancer survivors. Methods This is a single-group, pre- and post-mixed methods study of an advance practice nurse-driven survivorship care intervention that integrates a survivorship care plan with self-management skills coaching. Colorectal and lung cancer survivors with stage I-III disease were enrolled at 3–6 months after completing treatments, and the intervention was administered in one in-person or telephone session. Survivor outcome measures included depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, QOL, and satisfaction. Paired t- tests were used for exploratory evaluations of pre-to post-intervention score changes. Content analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data to describe survivors’ experience with the intervention. Results Thirty participants (15 colorectal, 15 lung) enrolled and completed the study (73% retention). It took an average of 40 min to complete the TS/CP and 34.2 min to deliver the intervention. Exploratory analysis revealed significant differences from baseline to post-intervention in depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, physical functioning, role limitations-physical, pain, general health, health transition, physical health summary, and total QOL. Three qualitative themes emerged: 1) Feeling empowered about having a plan; 2) Struggling with psychosocial concerns; and 3) Suggestions for intervention content and delivery. Conclusions The SM-SCP intervention was feasible and acceptable for colorectal and lung cancer survivors after treatment completion. Survivorship care interventions have potential to fulfill the unmet needs of colorectal and lung cancer survivors. Their effectiveness might be greater by integrating conceptually-based models of care, such as self-management skills building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association created the Nessa Coyle Leadership Fund to recognize the career achievements of Nessa Coyle, PhD, RN, as a pioneer in the field of palliative nursing and an exemplar of leadership. The first lectureship recognizing this award was presented at the annual assembly of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association in February 2017. This article is based on that lectureship and summarizes key leadership themes identified in Dr Coyle's career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The NASEM Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes provided seven goals and associated recommendations to transform nursing home care. • The seven goals address areas in which nurses have tremendous expertise and leadership including delivery of whole person care, workforce development, transparency and accountability, health care financing, and quality assurance. • Nurses must take action to ensure these recommendations are implemented. For a number of decades, nurses have raised concerns about nursing-related issues in nursing homes (NH) such as inadequate registered nurse (RN) staffing, insufficient RN and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) gerontological expertise, and lack of RN leadership competencies. The NASEM Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes illuminated the long-standing issues and concerns affecting the quality of care in nursing homes and proposed seven goals and associated recommendations intended to achieve the Committee's vision: Nursing home residents receive care in a safe environment that honors their values and preferences, addresses goals of care, promotes equity, and assesses the benefits and risks of care and treatments. This paper outlines concrete and specific actions nurses and nursing organizations can take to ensure the recommendations are implemented [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]