Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Announces Task Force to Review Advance Care Planning Tools for Nurses

Following HPNA's Palliative Nursing Summit, groups were formed to implement recommendations in two key focus areas: 1) pain and symptom management and 2) ACP.

UNITED STATES, September 12, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) is pleased to announce the formation of a task force to review and recommend advance care planning (ACP) tools for nurses. Following HPNA’s May 2017 Palliative Nursing Summit, work groups were formed to prioritize and implement summit recommendations in two key focus areas: 1) pain and symptom management and 2) ACP.

ACP is a process for patients and their families to discuss their wishes and goals for treatment and end-of-life care, clarify related values and goals, and state preferences through written documents and medical orders. The process is important because family members often make decisions regarding life-sustaining treatments and can benefit from input from patients and knowledge of their wishes.

The ACP Project Team prioritized two areas for action:
•Activate nurses to lead by example by completing their own advance directives and sharing their thoughts on social media via the #isaidwhatiwant campaign.
•Curate or develop resources to support nurses’ knowledge, skills, and confidence in initiating ACP conversations across all settings.

The ACP Project Team is co-chaired by JoAnne Reifsnyder, PhD, MBA, MSN, RN, FAAN, and Todd Hultman, PhD, APRN- BC, ACHPN; both are past presidents of HPNA, and Hultman is the current president of the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center.

The ACP Project Team recommended that a task force of ACP subject-matter experts be commissioned to: 1) review and summarize the evidence regarding nurse-led ACP training models and relevant literature on culture change, 2) comment on the availability of and perceived utility of ACP aids that use mobile app platforms, and 3) recommend nurse-led ACP training models for organizational members of the Palliative Nursing Summit.

The task force is chaired by Phyllis Whitehead, PhD, CNS, ACHPN, RN-BC, and members include:
•Dijin Tay, MS, BSN, PhD Candidate
•Erica Frechman, MSN, AGPCNP-BC, ACHPN, NEA-BC
•Erin Perez, DNP, APRN, ANP-C, ACHPN
•Jeannette Kates, PhD, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, GNP-BC
•Regina Fink, PhD, APRN, AOCN, CHPN, FAAN
•Marianne Johnstone-Petty, MSN, FNP-C, ACHPN

The diverse and outstanding subject-matter experts have contributed to research regarding strategies to support ACP and have developed interventions for successful ACP completion. The group expects to deliver its recommendations in January 2020.

“We are thrilled to have such an accomplished group of HPNA members participating in this important work and look forward to sharing their findings with the organizational members from the Palliative Nursing Summit,” said HPNA President Beth Martin, RN, MSN, ACNP-BC, ACHPN.


About Us

HPNA is a national nonprofit organization of nursing professionals practicing in the specialty of palliative nursing across the life span continuum. With a mission to advance expert care in serious illness and more than 11,000 members, it is the only nursing organization of its kind. HPNA and its two affiliated organizations, the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation, have a vision to transform the care and culture of serious illness. To learn more, visit HPNA at advancingexpertcare.org.


Contact Information

Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
One Penn Center West, Suite 425
Pittsburgh, PA 15276
412.787.9301
advancingexpertcare.org
hpna@hpna.org

Chad Reilly
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
+1 4127879319
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