The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of a COMFORT communication model in strengthening perceived communication confidence of advanced practice registered nurses. The project explored the effect of an intervention strategy that combined a COMFORT model didactic with an end-of-life simulation experience focused on family communication. Pre and post outcomes reveal improvements in perceived confidence for initiating potentially difficult communication topics and managing emotional needs of families. Advanced practice registered nurse participants positively indicated the COMFORT model as a useful tool for guiding difficult discussion (mean, 4.35 [SD, 0.48]) and an effective strategy for guiding advanced practice registered nurse communication at end of life (mean, 4.4 [SD, 0.6]) using a 5-point Likert scale.
Palliative care education at the undergraduate and graduate level is necessary to improve the competency and confidence of nurses and ultimately improve the care of patients with a chronic illness. Unfortunately, the curriculum in nursing education programs lacks palliative care content, resulting in a lack of preparation and confidence among nursing students. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of educating nursing students utilizing an interactive, multimodality palliative care class that focuses on palliative and end-of-life care. The Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses and Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying survey were used to assess nursing students before and after a newly developed palliative care class. A Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test was used to determine a difference in pre and post scores. Results revealed a significant improvement in knowledge, attitude, and comfort with palliative and end-of-life care.
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