Strengthening Undergraduate Palliative Nursing Education Through Interprofessional Collaboration and Community Partnerships.

BACKGROUND

Undergraduate nursing students are expected to demonstrate primary palliative care competencies upon graduation. The growing aging population and rising prevalence of complex chronic illnesses highlight an urgent need to prepare nurses who can deliver high-quality palliative care. Despite the 2021 AACN Essentials outlining revised primary palliative care competencies, new graduates continue to report insufficient preparation in these competencies.

METHOD: A quasi-nonexperimental design with a purposeful sample of prelicensure nursing students was utilized. An interprofessional multimodal teaching approach was implemented to deliver the course content.

RESULTS

UNPCKS-2.0 scores increased from preintervention (M = 17.60 [SD = 4.52]) to postintervention (M = 18.60 [SD = 1.34]). CARES PC 2.0 results showed improved interprofessional communication, with "strongly agree" responses increasing from 27% preintervention to 71% postintervention.

CONCLUSION

Survey data and student reflections demonstrated improved understanding of goals of care and quality-of-life support. Findings support integrating palliative care competencies throughout undergraduate nursing curricula.