Developing meaningful learning experiences in palliative care nursing education

Abstract

To help nurses develop effective clinical decision-making skills, it is essential that palliative care education includes opportunities for undergraduate and practicing nurses to develop cognitive skills in addressing real-life clinical problems. This article describes the learning experiences within an elective nursing course designed to strengthen the clinical decision-making skills of students in the context of palliative care and interprofessional practice. A description of the course context, major learning assignment and evaluation rubic, and reflections on the learning process in terms of clinical decision-making and interprofessional practice provides an example of how meaningful learning opportunities can be used to prepare nurses for the challenges they will face as collaborative team members in their palliative clinical practice.

An Integrated Literature Review of Death Education in Pre-Registration Nursing Curricula: Key Themes

“…She argues that nursing students exposed to death without appropriate education develop anxiety and negative attitudes and eventually limit their involvement in the care of dying patients. While Quint's work subsequently encouraged the inclusion of death education in curricula, more recent concerns focus on the amount of death education and nurses' preparedness to care for dying patients [31,32]. Allchin [22], thus, comments that nurse educators for more than thirty years have been calling for a greater emphasis in nurse education on the topics of death and dying, with this lack reflected in the quality of care provided [20, page 305].…”

End-of-life education in the pre-registration nursing curriculum: Patient, carer, nurse and student perspectives

“…Nonetheless, despite an increasing awareness and inclusion of death education in pre-registration curricula (see Dickinson et al, 2008), there is evidence to suggest persistent shortcomings in the nursing profession's ability to meet the needs of dying patients. Allchin (2006) thus comments that nurse educators for more than thirty years have been calling for a greater emphasis in nurse training on EOL care, with this lack of education reflected in the quality of EOL care provided to patients (Brajtman et al 2009).…”

Integrating palliative care content into a new undergraduate nursing curriculum: The University of Notre Dame, Australia – Sydney experience

“…It has been suggested that undergraduate nursing students' palliative care learning needs are best addressed through a multifaceted approach (Brajtman, Higuchi, & Murray, 2009). Palliative care content has the greatest effects on nurses when it is conducted over several weeks, involves a mix of didactical methods and facilitates the exploration of multiple themes which are integrated with practical experiences and then reflected upon (Adriaansen & van Achterberg, 2008).…”