Delivery of pre-registration palliative care nurse education: a scoping review protocol

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review will explore and analyze the literature on the delivery of pre-registration palliative care nurse education within higher education. The review will identify and map the design and modes of education delivery and identify any educational frameworks underpinning such approaches. INTRODUCTION: Nursing students report feelings of unpreparedness when supporting patients requiring palliative care and have expressed the need for further education. Therefore, education and guidance must be provided at pre-registration level to improve delivery, engagement, and proficiency in palliative care. Despite existing guidelines for pre-registration nursing education on palliative care, a standardized framework or approach is necessary to integrate and deliver education on this topic. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: This scoping review will include both published, non-published, and gray literature. Eligible sources will focus on pre-registration nursing students enrolled in pre-registration general, mental health, intellectual disability, and children's nursing programs. Sources reporting on the delivery of palliative care education, including how it is embedded or integrated into curricula in theoretical learning settings within higher education institutions, will be included. METHODS: The review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete (all via EBSCOhost); Scopus; and the Cochrane Library will be searched for published studies. Gray literature will also be considered. Reference lists of included studies will be hand-searched for additional papers. Literature published in English from 2014 onward will be considered. Three reviewers will independently screen studies, with data extracted and presented in tables alongside a thematic narrative summary. REVIEW REGISTRATION: OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VEHBK.