Integrating professional apprentices into an end-of-life course.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care
• End-of-Life Care

Background:

• Quality nursing education faces challenges, particularly in end-of-life care.
• Nurses are crucial for facilitating a "good death," encompassing comfort, preparation, and social-emotional tasks.
• Obstacles include nurses' role perception and intervention knowledge in end-of-life situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop meaningful learning experiences in nursing education for effective end-of-life care.
• To address the need for enhanced nurse preparedness in palliative and end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a Palliative and End-of-Life Care course.
• Integration of knowledge through three professional apprenticeships: cognitive (knowledge acquisition), practice (clinical reasoning), and moral reasoning (ethical comportment).

Main Results:

• The course aimed to equip future nurses with essential skills for end-of-life care.
• Apprenticeships were used to integrate theoretical knowledge with practical and ethical application.

Conclusions:

• Nursing education requires innovative approaches to prepare nurses for end-of-life care.
• The described course model provides a framework for enhancing nurses' competence and confidence in palliative and end-of-life care.