Nursing Resources

This is a comprehensive list and evaluation of advance care planning tools. This resource gives the format, name and author, description of the ACP tool in an easy to read table, including stage of readiness to engage.

Topic: Communication, Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy, Social Determinants of Health
Format: Article
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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This is a case study of an African American heart failure patient and focuses on social determinants of health and ethics. Mrs. T's case highlights racial inequities related to access to resources and delayed communication about available services and ethical concerns in palliative and end-of-life heart failure care.

Topic: Communication, Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Social Determinants of Health
Format: Article, Case Study
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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This is a case study describing the potential patient misconceptions about CPR and the challenges of goals of care discussions among hospitalized patients.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Ethics
Format: Case Study
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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A case study, followed by commentary describing the challenges in communication related to goals of care discussions, and the complexities of transitions between skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and hospitals.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Ethics
Format: Case Study
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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This website provides comprehensive resources, essential tools, training, technical assistance, and connection for all clinicians caring for people with serious illness.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy, Social Determinants of Health
Format: Website
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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Application of theory to practice can often be a challenge for students. This blog post takes Kolacaba’s Theory of comfort and applies it to caregivers of palliative care patients in the community.

Topic: Compassionate Care, Ethics
Format: Other
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level

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Interactive website which asks the user a series of questions to facilitate thoughtful conversations about the end-of-life over dinner. 

Topic: Communication, Compassionate Care
Format: Website
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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This publication utilizes the AACN Essentials which underscore the value of including both palliative and hospice care within nursing curricula.  The authors postulate that health equity will never be achieved until issues  related to the social determinants of health, system biases and personal biases provide a foundation for education focusing on the causative factors for poor outcomes in vulnerable groups, particularly those who are living with complex medical conditions.

Topic: Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy, Social Determinants of Health
Format: Article
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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A website with companion teaching materials for the ELNEC curriculum, including several simulation exercises for role playing, case studies with grading rubrics, and more under "Teaching & Evaluation Tools."

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy, Social Determinants of Health
Format: Website
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty

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Blank’s 2011 article, “End-of-Life Decision Making Across Cultures” provides a comparative analysis of end-of-life decision-making in twelve countries. The author provides demographic information. He, then, summarizes the differences by country of the cost of dying, use of advanced directives, acceptance of euthanasia, and definition of brain death.

Topic: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics, Health Policy
Format: Article
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty

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The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) offers an online Undergraduate and New Graduate Curriculum for entry into practice through Relias Learning. This includes six, one-hour online modules.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice
Format: Other, Video, Website
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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This publication describes six ethical aspects of end-of-life research that investigators and clinicians should consider in designing and conducting palliative care research. These include: (1) whether a project is research or quality improvement; (2) the study's potential benefits to future patients; (3) the study's potential benefits to subjects; (4) the study's risks to subjects; (5) subjects' decision-making capacity; and (6) the subjects' choices to “voluntarily” participate in research.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy
Format: Article
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty

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This is a research report about what patient’s, families, and clinicians think is important at the end of life. While this article is over 20 years old, it still provides valuable information about why patient-centered care is so important.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Compassionate Care, Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Policy
Format: Article
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level

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This interactive website, from the Family Caregiving Institute at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California Davis, is dedicated to the well-being of those who care for others. They provide competencies for inter-professional teams to support caregivers and assess caregivers’ readiness to assume the role.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication
Format: Website
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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The Massachusetts Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) site is a free website that provides forms, explanations, and implementation tools for patients, families, and clinicians in several languages. This site promotes a standard way to communicate, document, and honor the preferences of the patient with advanced illness.

Topic: Clinical Judgement, Communication, Compassionate Care, Ethics
Format: Website
Audience: Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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This free site provides clear, concise, and consistent information on healthcare decision-making to both the public and providers/facilities through the widespread availability and dissemination of simple and uniform tools (not just forms) to guide the process.

Topic: Compassionate Care, Health Policy
Format: Website
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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In this video, an advanced practice oncology nurse delivered a powerfully moving presentation about the nature of suffering and compassion. Suffering, he says, is feeling disconnected from being alive.

Topic: Communication, Compassionate Care
Format: Video
Audience: Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty

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This resource provides both a culturally sensitive and spiritually sensitive guide aimed at providing health care staff with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to care for an increasingly diverse patient population. The text provides the reader with succinct descriptions of beliefs and practices that may be practiced by persons from various cultures or religious groups.

Topic: Compassionate Care, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Format: Other
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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This publication describes a sentinel event of a racist comment from a family member about diverse staff during a palliative care consult. The case study provides a vivid description of the event. The authors emphasize that the lack of support expressed by the white staff was as egregious as the comments that were made about members of the team who came from diverse backgrounds.

Topic: Communication, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Ethics
Format: Article
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Nursing Faculty, Practicing Nurses

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Care Dimensions offers a free webinar series on various topics related to serious illness care that rotates throughout the year, including contact hours and continuing education credits for nurses, social workers, and certified case managers.

Topic: Communication, Compassionate Care
Format: Other, Video
Audience: Associates Level, Baccalaureate Level, Graduate Level, Practicing Nurses

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