Paper
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
This presentation is part of : End-of-Life Strategies
The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Salzburg Institute for Nurses in Eastern Europe
Rose Virani, RN, MHA, OCN1, Pam Malloy, RN, MN, OCN2, and Betty R. Ferrell, PhD, FAAN1. (1) Nursing Research and Education, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA, (2) American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Inc, Washington DC, DC, USA
Learning Objective #1: identify an international nursing project related to end-of-life/palliative care for nurse educators.
Learning Objective #2: describe the impact (through quantitative data) of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) training program has had on nursing programs/education across the Eastern European countries.
Research Aims:  The ELNEC project (www.aacn.nche.edu/ELNEC) was initiated in 2000 in the United States, and has been very successful effort to improve palliative care through education of nurses.  The ELNEC project is a Train-the-Trainers approach and has trained over 3100 nurses to educate their colleagues.  . 

Sample:  In fall 2006 the ELNEC project, held its first international ELNEC Trainers conference in Salzburg Austria supported by the Open Society Institute. 

Methods:  The course included 39 nurses from 14 eastern European countries.  The content of the ELNEC curriculum covers topics including palliative nursing care, pain, symptoms, grief, ethical issues, culture, communication, care at the time of death, and quality improvement

Results:  The participants rated the course at 4.9 on a scale of 0= poor to 5= excellent in terms of overall effectiveness.  Nurses represented roles in clinical practice and nursing education and each participant developed goals for implementing the education in their countries.  Follow up support and evaluation is in progress.  This presentation will present key findings regarding this international educational outreach and report on the implementation across these countries. 

Conclusions:  There are tremendous opportunities for international collaboration in palliative care education.  Nurses are vital leaders in improving care for patients and families.  

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See more of The 18th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (11 -- 14 July, 2007)