Achieving excellence in end-of-life care.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care

Background:

• Practicing nurses highlight the necessity of integrating end-of-life care into nursing education.
• Current nursing curricula often lack comprehensive content on caring for dying patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the identified gap in nursing education regarding end-of-life care.
• To describe the development of a specialized undergraduate nursing curriculum focused on palliative and end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• Development of a new undergraduate theory course on end-of-life care.
• Implementation of a complementary practicum course for hands-on experience.

Main Results:

• The curriculum was designed to equip nursing students with essential knowledge and attitudes for quality end-of-life care.
• The program aims to enhance nurses' preparedness in managing the complexities of patient death and bereavement.

Conclusions:

• Integrating specialized theory and practical courses is crucial for effective end-of-life nursing education.
• This initiative serves as a model for other nursing programs seeking to improve palliative care training.