Awards and Rankings
Nursing
January 31, 2022
Andra Davis, PhD will lead development of a Regional Model of Excellence in Palliative Care Education focused on schools in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Funded through Cambia Health Foundation, the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) at the City of Hope, received a three-year grant which began in August 2021, totaling $420,000, to advance its work strengthening the nursing workforce in the care of patients and families living with serious illness.
“Evidence-based palliative care education continues to be an area of great need among nursing schools. The ELNEC project has a 22-year history of educating nurses in principles of palliative care,” Davis said. Together the ELNEC team, at the City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) partnered in development of the curriculum. To date the ELNEC project has prepared over 40,000 trainers who have taught over 1.2 million clinicians using the ELNEC curriculum in all 50 states and in 100 countries.
“It is an exciting time in palliative care education, and I am honored to be part of this next chapter,” Davis said. “AACN has released The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, which has dedicated one of the four ‘spheres of care’ to hospice/palliative/supportive care across the lifespan and with diverse populations. ELNEC Undergraduate/New Graduate and Graduate curricula are important and timely evidence-based resources for educators as we evaluate and adjust curriculum to align with the new Essentials and prepare future nurses to provide primary palliative care for persons with serious illness."
“AACN applauds the Cambia Health Foundation for its commitment to expanding palliative care education for nursing students and practicing nurses, including those serving in rural and underserved communities,” said Dr. Deborah Trautman, President and Chief Executive Officer of AACN. “This new grant will play an important role in helping the ELNEC project to continue its important work to address health equity and expand access to compassionate care.”
To date, Davis has already held two regional webinars through ELNEC, and contributed new resources for faculty on AACN;s ELNEC: ‘Faculty Corner’ website. The new resources are dedicated to the palliative care educational needs and issues relevant to nurse faculty.
“With the support of Dean Casey Shillam, the School of Nursing is beginning to envision an interprofessional palliative care education collaborative on our campus and beyond,” Davis said. In addition to her regional outreach, Davis is mentoring senior nursing students as they contribute to developing a ‘repository’ at the University of Portland for palliative care implementation and outcomes evaluation, in which other schools throughout the region will be able to participate.
This is an exciting time for palliative care education, and for the University of Portland in leading this work into the future. If you are interested in exploring campus-wide, interdisciplinary ideas for palliative care education, please contact Davis davisa@up.edu.
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