Online Palliative and End-of-Life Care Education for Undergraduate Nurses

The curricula of undergraduate nursing programs lack education in palliative and end-of-life care. If the topic is covered, it is generally within isolated lectures and rarely as a full course. With the growing demand for nursing competence in palliative care, curricula must adapt to also place emphasis on this important topic. The release in 2016 of the American Association of College of Nursing (AACN) Palliative Competencies and Recommendations for Educating Undergraduate Nursing Students (CARES) drew attention to the need for expanded undergraduate education on this topic. This paper describes the development and delivery of an undergraduate-level online nursing elective course in palliative and end-of-life care offered through a large public university. Innovative elements of the course include practicing difficult conversations using technology to enable active student engagement in an online environment, a serious game involving individual role play for treatment decision making, and special topic weeks allowing a deeper dive into seldom discussed populations such as the homeless, which the students described as playing an important role in contributing to their learning.