Strengthening end-of-life care through specialty nursing certification

The purpose of this study was to determine the adequacy of content related to end-of-life (EOL) care in materials used in the nursing certification process across clinical nursing specialties. Thirty-eight certification examination blueprints, 18 specialty nursing scope and standards of practice documents, and 28 specialty nursing core curriculum text books were analyzed by using descriptive statistics to determine the quantity and quality of content related to nine critical areas of EOL content contained in them. Fifteen (38 per cent) of the certification examination blueprints contained at least one of the critical EOL content areas. Eight (44 per cent) of the scope and standards of practice documents contained at least one sentence on EOL care. Seven (25 per cent) of the 28 textbooks contained at least one chapter dedicated to EOL care content, and 129.5 (0.8 per cent) of the 15,706 textbook pages reviewed were dedicated to EOL care content. Expert ratings regarding the overall accuracy, currency, and comprehensiveness of EOL content found in the textbooks were poor to good. An increased focus on EOL care in the nursing specialty certification process is warranted. The content of nursing specialty certification examinations has a direct influence on nursing education as well as a significant impact on nursing practice in clinical specialty areas.