Implementing Education for Community Adult Hospice Nurses to Expand Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care

Children with life-limiting illnesses living in nonurban areas have minimal access to community-based pediatric hospice and palliative care. Barriers such as geography, limited continuing education opportunities, and clinician discomfort compound this issue. Pediatric hospice and palliative patients require specially-trained clinicians to provide holistic support in areas such as disease progression, illness trajectory, and goals of care. An asynchronous online educational module, including a pre- and postmodule survey, was developed to provide education on timely pediatric quality-of-life conversations and skills for nurses who work with the adult population. This evidence-based project compared findings on knowledge, comfort, confidence, and willingness for adult hospice and palliative nurses in caring for pediatric patients. Registered nurses from 3 community hospice and palliative agencies were invited to participate. Following the education module, participants reported an increase in comfort from 25% to 93.3% and willingness from 59% to 93.3%. Additionally, postmodule confidence level increased to 94%. These findings suggest an asynchronous educational module approach benefits the needs of community-based adult hospice and palliative nurses and gains learned from this module may enhance nurse skill and improve access to care.