The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) – For Veterans Project is a national train-the-trainer educational initiative to improve palliative care. This program and curriculum, generously funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was developed by the National ELNEC Project Team – a partnership between the City of Hope (Betty R. Ferrell, PhD, RN, MA, FPCN, FAAN, Principal Investigator) in collaboration with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing with updates undertaken by Carma Erickson-Hurt, DNP, LCDR, USN, RET. This updated curriculum is designed to educate nurses on how to provide better palliative care for Veterans with serious, complex illnesses and their families.
ELNEC – For Veterans was developed to meet the unique palliative care needs of Veterans and to guide nurses in delivering this care. Given that the number of Vietnam-era Veterans over 65 years of age will continue to grow through 2034, so too will the need for hospice and palliative care. The expertise gained through this curriculum promises to improve the quality of palliative care for thousands of Veterans and will provide tools to educate individuals caring for Veterans through the trajectory of their illness and the end of life.
The curriculum is available at no cost on our website.
Please note that ELNEC – For Veterans content is available for all palliative care providers and educational institutions to access and use. For more information on courses and projects, please visit the ELNEC website.
- Module topics include:
- Introduction to Palliative Nursing Care
- Pain Management
- Symptom Management
- Cultural & Spiritual Considerations in Palliative Care
- Communication
- Loss, Grief, and Bereavement
- Final Hours
