Oncology Nursing Education in End of Life Care

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary aim of this proposal is to improve end of life care for cancer patients through the national network of oncology nurses in chapters of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS). Recent national initiatives and major consensus documents have provided strong evidence of the need for improved professional education to impact end of life care in cancer care. The National Cancer Policy Board and Institute of Medicine's report of improved end-of-life care published in 2001 has documented the considerable need for improved end-of-life care for more than 550,000 individuals who will die of cancer this year in the United States. This primary aim will be achieved through 4 workshops for teams selected nationwide through ONS chapters. Each conference will be attended by 60 oncology nurses for a total of 240 participants representing their 120 ONS chapters and the project will later reach the remaining chapters through dissemination efforts. The project combines the efforts of the City of Hope National Medical Center, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the Oncology Nursing Society. Specific aims include: 1) Adapt the existing End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) curriculum and teaching materials to be cancer specific for use in this Oncology Nursing Education End of Life Care (ONE-EOLC) project. 2) Evaluate the impact of the curriculum on participants' knowledge and attitudes about end-of-life care. 3) Support the network of ONE-EOLC educators through the ONS chapters to share experiences in dissemination of the curriculum. 4) Evaluate the effectiveness of participants' implementation efforts within the ONS chapters. 5) Describe issues related to dissemination of EOL education through CE efforts of ONS chapters. This project focuses on palliative care in the cancer network of ONS chapters to provide nationwide education as an efficient means to build upon the extremely successful project in progress, ELNEC. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, ELNEC has targeted undergraduate nursing programs and continuing education providers. The 9 content areas of the curriculum are nursing care at EOL, pain management, symptom management, ethical issues, culture, communication, grief/loss and bereavement, achieving quality care at EOL, and preparation and care at the time of death. This proposal includes extensive evaluation planned to monitor individual and institutional dissemination.