For more information contact:
Email: nursing@gwumc.edu
Phone: (202) 994-7901

Post Masters Certificate: Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner

Program Requirements

Curriculum 2009-2010 Academic Year

Post Masters Certificate Program for Palliative Care Nurse Practitioners

Such as:
NURS 294  Spiritual Beliefs and Practices in Health Care
EOLC 202 Spiritual Care (at End of Life)
EOLC 205 Family Caregivers
Other courses approved by faculty advisor

NURS 276: Foundations of Palliative Care (3 credit hour)

This course provides an overview of the foundations of palliative care for individuals experiencing serious illness and/or end of life and their families within the interdisciplinary palliative care team. An emphasis of this course is the philosophy, theory, evidence base, standards of care, and interdisciplinary aspects of a comprehensive and compassionate system of palliative care for individuals and their families experiencing complex illness with uncertain timing of death.  

This course provides an in depth study of pain and symptom management, including advanced care planning with patients and their families. The emphasis will be on ethical and compassionate clinical decision-making by the nurse practitioner according to established standards for quality care and best practices within an interdisciplinary team.

This course provides a study of the illness trajectories for the 10 chronic illnesses that are leading causes of death in the United States. The assessment and management of the chronic illnesses, as well as pain and symptoms associated with the illnesses will be examined. The focus will be on enabling patients, families, and healthcare professionals to anticipate and prevent/reduce adverse symptoms from life threatening serious illness to maximize the quality of life for the individual experiencing life threatening illness and their family.

This course provides the skills for palliative care management of complex conditions, across all healthcare settings for individuals with serious life-threatening illness and their family. The emphasis is on leadership within the healthcare system and public policy arena to ensure access to high quality palliative care for all individuals, families, and communities.

A minimum of 500 clinical hours are required for the graduate to take the accreditation exams in Advanced Practice Palliative Care Nursing, a minimum of 150 hours must be taken in the academic program. The other 350 hours may be obtained by appropriate clinical experience as described at the NBCHPN website at http//www.nbchpn.org-DisplayPage.aspxTitle=Candidate Handbook and Application.url.

One of the features of the GW DNE Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner is the variety of practicum opportunities that are offered, not only in the student’s local area, but in the Washington, D.C. region if the student desires. Placements will be arranged by the faculty and students based on the availability of palliative care experiences in the student’s local area. Students must engage in clinical practicum experiences in at least two different palliative care settings. The student will have the opportunity to gain unique clinical experiences in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area during the summer session. The Palliative Care Education Coalition in Washington, D.C., which collaborates to provide palliative medicine fellowships at several premier teaching sites in the D.C. community, will assist in providing educational continuity across various hospice and palliative care settings including:
Hospitals:  George Washington University Hospital (GTU, Howard, WHC, VAMC),
Hospices: Community Hospices, Capital Hospices, and others
Palliative Care Consultation Services
Palliative Care Inpatient Services (Joseph’s House)
Private and/or outpatient Palliative Care Services (House Calls, Care Management Associates)

If students want to take advantage of clinical placements in the Washington metro area they will be expected to provide their own living expenses.

NURS 279 Palliative Care Practicum I (2 Credit hours=90 clinical hours)

1. Provide comprehensive care to patients with advanced life threatening illness and their families
2. Engage in holistic assessment of pain and quality of life of patients with advanced illness including AIDS, cancer and serious illness in a variety of settings under the direction of a skilled clinician in palliative care. Seminars integrate concepts from the core and theory courses.

NURS 280 Palliative Care Practicum II (2 Credit hours = 90 clinical hours)

1. Integrate advanced knowledge of palliative care in assessing and managing the  symptoms of those experiencing life-threatening illness within the palliative care focus
2. Complex psychological, ethical, social and spiritual issues and grief reactions will be focus of clinical practicum
3. Student will explore and experience the role of the advanced practice nurse leader on the palliative care team, family meeting, and patient support group
4. Provide care across diverse healthcare settings
5. Complex psychological, ethical, social, and spiritual issues and grief reactions

6.  Advanced content for assessment and alleviation of complex symptoms relating to care of patients and families experiencing serious life-threatening illness within the palliative care focus.

For Option 1, which prepares the graduate nurse for national credentialing by NBCHPN as Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner, the graduate must have a:

1. Master’s degree as Nurse Practitioner, and
2. Complete the core courses (10 credit hours) in Palliative Care Nursing
3. Complete 500 clinical hours at the advanced practice nursing level in palliative care nursing; 150 hours must be completed in the academic program, 350 may be completed in an approved clinical mentoring program as delineated in the credentialing information at http//www.nbchpn.org-DisplayPage.aspxTitle=Candidate Handbook and Application.url.

For Option 2, which prepares the healthcare professional for documentation for the Specialty in Palliative and End of Life Care, the student must complete the core courses in palliative care, plus one elective. The core courses are: 
            Foundations in Palliative Care (3 credit hours) 
Palliative Care I: Pain and Suffering (3 credit hours)
            Palliative Care II: Chronic Illness Care (2 credit hours)
            Leadership/Management: Palliative Care III (2 credit hours)
            Elective course in related palliative and end of life care courses, such as Spiritual Beliefs and Practices in Health Care, Spiritual Care at End of Life, or other courses approved by faculty advisor (3 credit hours)

Recommendations for a unique and innovative palliative care program at GWU, include:

• Courses provide graduate nursing education for National credentialing as Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner and
• Documentation for the Specialty in Palliative and End of Life Care for graduate nurses and other healthcare professionals,
• Program of Study is provided in an online method with a 3 credit on-campus experience as the first course,
• Optional summer clinical intensive for Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner program utilizing wealth of hospice and palliative care expertise in the Washington D.C. region, and
• Palliative care clinical experience can be offered to the Doctor of Nursing Practice students as a field course.

 

Post Masters Certificate: Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Suite 6167 - 900 23rd St., NW Washington, DC 20037

Email: nursing@gwumc.edu Phone: (202) 994-7795 Fax: (202) 994-2777