Promoting Palliative Care Internationally: Building Leaders to Promote Education, Practice, and Advocacy

Abstract

<p>In February 2000, nine nursing educators, practitioners, and researchers met in Nashville, Tennessee, to develop a palliative care curriculum<br />specifically for nurses. The following month, 22 advisors from nursing organizations across the United States convened in Washington, DC to<br />review the recommended curriculum development and dissemination plans for end-of-life care throughout nursing schools, hospitals, hospices, home care, and geriatric settings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided funding for curriculum and competency development and for six national train-the-trainer courses to be held from 2001 to 2003. The curriculum entitled the End-of-Life Nursing Education<br />Consortium was designed to meet the needs of nurses caring for patients with serious and complex illnesses at the end of their lives. This work,<br />beginning in 2000 with the development of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium curriculum, has been taught in every state across<br />America and in 91 countries around the world and has been translated into eight languages. Over 21,400 trainers have returned to their<br />institutions and educated over 642,000 colleagues.</p>