Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The American Academy of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) has identified gaps in palliative and end-of-life nursing care education at the baccalaureate level. To overcome this gap, AACN in partnership with the End-of-Life-Nursing-Education-Consortium (ELNEC) developed online learning modules on this important topic. This curriculum is available to all baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States. The purpose of our research study is to evaluate the implementation of the ELNEC curriculum within the University of Portland, School of Nursing. Objectives for the study include: a) evaluation of nursing student knowledge in palliative and end-of-life care, b) measuring perceived competency among baccalaureate nursing students over time, and c) identify knowledge differences, if any, between traditional four year nursing students and transfer nursing students. Objectives will be accomplished through a simple pre-test/post-test design utilizing an anonymous Qualtrics survey incorporating a validated palliative care education assessment tool. The survey will be distributed from Aug 2018- Jan 2019, with data collection and evaluation of results occurring in Spring and Summer 2019. Results will inform a framework for curriculum design and evaluation. The ultimate goal of the research is to equip nursing students with the knowledge and tools needed to provide palliative care that honors patient’s goals and facilitates quality of life.