Palliative Care Nursing Curriculum Could Impact Staff Shortages

A program designed to incorporate hospice and palliative care principles into undergraduate and graduate nursing education could help make a difference in ongoing staffing shortages in those fields.

The roots of this curriculum were planted five years ago when a group of hospice and palliative experts convened in Oregon to find strategies for improving and expanding education in their disciplines. A study published this month in the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing indicated that the program is effective at advancing nursing students’ and graduates’ skills in palliative care, with many graduate participants (52%) indicating that the program had