Enhancing End-of-Life Education for New Graduates

Abstract

Background: Nurses frequently report insufficient preparation to provide high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care, despite an increasing number of patients requiring comfort-focused interventions. At a community hospital in Connecticut, formal EOL education is limited to a specialty unit, resulting in newly graduated nurses on other inpatient units caring for patients at the end of life without standardized training. 

Purpose: The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to evaluate the impact of integrating the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curriculum into a new graduate nurse residency program on nurses’ self-perceived knowledge of caring for patients receiving comfort measures. 

Methods: A single-group, quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design was used. New graduate nurses on inpatient medical units completed the End-of-Life Care Questionnaire (EOL-Q) before and after completing the online ELNEC course. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze changes in self-perceived knowledge. 

Results:   Nurses (n = 8) demonstrated statistically significant improvements in median self-perceived knowledge and attitudes toward end-of-life care following completion of the ELNEC curriculum (knowledge p = .022; attitudes p = .035).

Conclusions: Integrating the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curriculum into a new graduate nurse residency program improved nurses’ self-perceived knowledge and attitudes related to caring for patients receiving comfort-focused care. Strengthening end-of-life care education during nurse residency programs may improve new graduate preparedness and promote more consistent, compassionate care for patients receiving comfort-focused treatment across inpatient settings.