Palliative care education for pediatric nurses

Of all the various healthcare professionals that provide care to children and their families facing life's end, no one spends more time at the bedside observing, critically thinking, consulting, and providing direct care than the pediatric nurse. Previous research, however, demonstrates that undergraduate education has not prepared nurses to provide optimum end-of-life (EOL) care (Ferrell, Grant, & Virani, 1999; Ferrell, Virani, & Grant, 1999). Although many reasons have been cited in the literature for this inadequacy, the fact remains that when nurses complete their basic education and enter practice, they often are grossly unprepared to care for children and families in need of end-of-life care (Field & Behrman, 2003).