Sowing Across a State: Development and Delivery of a Grassroots Pediatric Palliative Care Nursing Curriculum

Sowing Across a State: Development and Delivery of a Grassroots Pediatric Palliative Care Nursing Curriculum

Weaver M S; Jenkins R; Wichman C; Robinson J E; Potthoff M R; Menicucci T; Vail C A

Journal of Palliative Care

2019

education; hospice; palliative care; pediatric; pediatric palliative; rural health

BACKGROUND: Rural pediatricians and adult-trained hospice teams report feeling ill-prepared to care for children at end of life, resulting in geographies in which children are not able to access home-based services. OBJECTIVES: To develop a pediatric palliative care curriculum for inpatient nurses and adult-trained hospice teams caring for children in a rural region. METHODS: Curriculum design and delivery was informed by local culture through an interdisciplinary, iterative development approach with confidence, intention, and support measured pre-, post-, and 4 months after delivery. A needs assessment was completed by pediatric nurses caring for children receiving palliative or end-of-life care to inform curricular content (phase 1). A curriculum was designed by an interdisciplinary pediatric palliative care team and piloted with nursing cohorts annually through educational conferences with monthly discussion series for 3 consecutive years (phase 2). Curricular content was then provided for 31 rural hospice team members (phase 3). RESULTS: Self-reported confidence in caring for children increased by 1.1/10 points for adult-trained hospice team members. Mean score for intention to care for children increased by 5.2 points (sustained 5.1 points above baseline at 4 months). Perception of support in caring for children increased by 5 points (mean sustained 5.4 points above baseline at 4 months). Family needs, care goals, and symptom management were prioritized learning topics. Rural hospices previously unwilling to accept children enrolled pediatric patients in the 4 months following the conference. CONCLUSION: Grassroots curricular initiatives and ongoing educational mentorship can grow pediatric palliative and hospice services in rural regions.

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

January 2020 List