Development of a Palliative Superuser Educational Curriculum to Improve Nurses' Comfort and Knowledge in the Provision of End-of-Life Care: A Hospital-Based QI Project

Patients who are receiving comfort-directed care at the end of their lives will be cared for by nurses throughout their hospital stay. Providing bedside end-of-life care requires specialty assessment, communication, and intervention skills. Nurses who provide bedside end-of-life care in the acute care setting may not receive specialty palliative care training as part of their undergraduate education. To address this an educational curriculum was designed by members of the Palliative Care team and a Palliative Superuser training program was developed. Guided by the Comfort ALways Matters (CALM) framework the course focused on specialized assessment and symptom management, holistic approaches to patients and their caregivers, and communication instruction. Course description is a four-hour workshop presented by certified registered nurse practitioners from the inpatient palliative care team.