Improving Nurse Knowledge and Confidence in End-of-Life Care Utilizing the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Curriculum: A Pilot Project (QI615)

Abstract

•Describe the need for integrating palliative care education into hospital training for nurses.•Analyze the effect that the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Core course has on nurse ability to provide palliative care and its implications for nursing practice. Due to the sensitive nature of palliative care (PC), many nurses are overwhelmed by PC and underprepared to manage its intricacies. Because PC is a relatively new field, nurses who graduated in the past several decades likely did not receive any PC education. Despite recent inclusion of PC in undergraduate programs, coverage in textbooks is marginal. Faculty lack sufficient time and training to prepare nursing students to provide PC; this translates into nurses having insufficient preparation in PC. This pilot project's purpose was to introduce the ELNEC curriculum to staff nurses at a Midwestern Level 1 Trauma Center in order to increase nurses' knowledge and confidence in providing PC. An ELNEC course was held and its effectiveness evaluated via the End-of-Life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS) given prior to and at the conclusion of the workshop. Nine nurses attended the course; six participants attended both days and completed both surveys. The survey data indicates that the ELNEC Core curriculum contributed to a statistically significant improvement (P=0.026) in EPCS scores. Paired t-tests were completed for each domain of questions in the EPCS. Mean scores from the Patient and Family Centered Care (PFCC) domain improved significantly (p=0.01), as did Effective Care Delivery (ECD) scores (p=0.01); the change in Culture and Ethical Values (CEV) was not statistically significant (p=0.27). As a pilot project, this study highlights the potential of PC education via the ELNEC curriculum to increase nurse confidence in communicating with patients and families and providing effective care for patients requiring PC. This poster will discuss the lack of education for practicing nurses and examine how the ELNEC Core curriculum can be integrated in hospitals to improve nursing knowledge and confidence regarding provision of PC.