Teaching Where Life Ends: Peer-Assisted Learning in Hospice as a Model for End-of-Life Nursing Education

Nursing educational programs are expanding clinical learning opportunities to encompass the hospice/palliative/supportive sphere of care, as outlined in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials to prepare practice-ready nursing graduates. This article outlines one school's journey to integrate end-of-life clinical experiences across the curriculum, starting with beginning nursing students using a peer-assisted learning model at an inpatient hospice facility. Pairing senior and beginning nursing students using the peer-assisted learning model together in the hospice setting requires specific and differentiated objectives and goals for each set of students. Students appreciated feeling welcomed in this specialty setting, engaging in hands-on care, and deepening their understanding and comfort with end-of-life care. Faculty valued an environment that offered a unique way for students to develop tangible and power skills and required less faculty oversight. Using this educational structure, hospice nurses are in a unique position to model best practices and engage nursing students in a setting that excels in providing holistic, patient-centered care. Lessons learned and implications for practice are provided, including reflective journal assignments mapped to competency-based education subcompetencies.