ELNC Expands Reach to Improve Pediatric End-of-Life Care Over 100 Pediatric Nurses Attend the first ELNEC Pediatric Palliative Care Training

Alabama Nurse, Sep-Nov 2003

Washington, D.C., August 20, 2003 - The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC), a national initiative to improve end-of-life care, held the first Pediatric Palliative Care Training on August 14-16 in Pasadena, CA. This training was specifically tailored to pediatric nurses who spend more time with children and family members facing the end of life than any other member of the health care team. Representing 34 states plus the District of Columbia, over 100 pediatric nurses were selected to attend this training, including nurse faculty, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, staff development/educators, and staff nurses.

"Studies have shown that many nurses feel inadequately prepared to provide the comprehensive care so important in pediatric palliative care," said Liz Sumner, BSN, RN, Executive Director of the Children's Program at San Diego Hospice and Project Director of the National Alliance for Children with Life Threatening Conditions. "The ELNEC Pediatric Palliative Care curriculum is an excellent resource for the many nurses who are hungry for the best tools to teach and promote improved care of children with life threatening conditions."

Training participants will now return to their local university, children's hospital, extended care facility or hospice/palliative care centers and disseminate training content to the colleagues so that excellent end-of-life care may be implemented on a broader scale. Program content included topics such as pain and symptom assessment and management; cultural considerations; ethical/legal issues; communication; loss, grief and bereavement; care at the time of death; and models of excellence in pediatric palliative care.

Launched in February 2000, ELNEC provides nurse educators with essential training in end-of-life care and equips participants with the knowledge and resources to share this new expertise with nursing students and practicing nurses. Funded by a major grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered jointly by The City of Hope National Medical Center and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, ELNEC has trained over 1,200 nurse educators representing all 50 states. Over the next few years, project leaders estimate that ELNEC-trained educators will touch the lives of 6 million patients and their families facing the end of life.

City of Hope National Medical Center is an innovative biomedical research, treatment and educational institution located just outside of Los Angeles. Designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute, City of Hope is dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases. The Center's philosophy of Hope has inspired its health care experts to develop programs that focus on treating the whole person - their emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing - in addition to their physical care. It is this combination of patient-centered care, state-of-the-art treatment and groundbreaking research that has made City of Hope a leader in the fight against devastating diseases. Website: http://www.cityofhope.org.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 560 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collections, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research and practice. Website: http://www.aacn.nche.edu.