Improving Palliative Care Knowledge in the Acute Care Setting

Aim: The aim of this paper is to present an education intervention for bedside nursing staff to improve their palliative care knowledge and the end-of-life care provided for terminally ill patients. Background: When dying in the hospital, patients experience higher discomfort, lower quality of life, and prolonged family grieving. Suffering worsens when patient needs are unmet and can contribute to a traumatic death. Providing end-of-life education will increase a nurse’s knowledge of palliative care, address knowledge gaps, and promote better patient outcomes through improved clinical practice. Design: The proposed intervention has three prongs which include: (1) virtual training using the facility’s learning management system (LMS) (2) department in-services on evidence based palliative care interventions with local content experts, and (3) hour-long training sessions with staff selected to serve as palliative care champions on their nursing units Results: The outcome of this intervention on nursing knowledge will be measured using the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) at week 11 and 52, and EHR evaluation at week 52. It is expected that there will be a significant improvement in both outcomes. Conclusion: Nursing staff can improve a patient’s and family’s death experience by providing competent care during the end-of-life. Palliative care continuing education is necessary to improve a nurses’ knowledge and increase the provision of these evidence-based interventions.