Efforts have been made to enhance health care providers' knowledge and skills in delivering care to terminally-ill patients and their families. Despite several educational programs and products for nurses and physicians, few are directed at reaching nursing assistants, important health care team members who often spend the most time with patients and families. Several factors challenge efforts to educate this group, including relatively low educational levels, language difficulties, and limited continuing education funds. The purpose of the proposed Nursing Assistant End-of-Life Care Computerized Education Project (NA-CEP) is to enhance nursing assistants' end-of-life (EOL) knowledge and skills through the development and testing of a computerized educational program.
The specific aims of this project are to: 1) Develop an interactive, media-rich computer program to teach essential hospice and palliative care concepts to nursing assistants in all practice settings; 2) Evaluate the program on the following characteristics: ease of use, clarity of presentation, appropriateness of reading/content level, and relevance to practice; 3) Evaluate the program's effectiveness in increasing the knowledge, skills, and confidence of NAs caring for patients and families at the EOL; 4) Disseminate the program and project findings and ensure continual updating and use of the program. A unique feature of this project is the partnership between the investigators and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) to develop the program in accordance with the national scope and standards for hospice and palliative care nursing assistant practice. A collaboration between Swedish Medical Center and HPNA also will ensure the continuing updating and usefulness of the computer program following the end of the grant funding period.
