Palliative and end-of-life care curricula in prelicensure nursing education

Background: Hospice and palliative care are generally not taught in medical or nursing schools. Aim: The study aimed to discover the palliative care self -competence of pre-licensure nursing faculty and to establish if the palliative care competencies from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing are utilized within nursing programs in the United States (U.S.). Methods: Surveys (1710) were emailed to accredited programs using a systematic sampling plan, yielding a 4.3% response rate. Results: Participants (N = 73), with 42% from associate degree (ADN) programs and 58% from baccalaureate (BSN) programs, reported they possessed the ability to meet the 17 palliative care competencies. Still, only ten of the 17 competencies were included in at least 75% of the programs. There were no statistically signifi- cant differences in perceived competence between faculty that taught in ADN compared to BSN programs (p = 0.138). A weak to moderate relationship was found between the faculty participants' reported palliative care self -competency and the presence of palliative care competencies in pre-licensure nursing programs in the U.S. Conclusions: The results suggest that faculty need staff development and display an urgency to re -invigorate the promotion of palliative care nursing education for faculty and students. (c) 2023 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.