A three-year, $900,000 grant from the Archstone Foundation will support the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project, a national education initiative to improve end-of-life care in the United States.
The project, administered by City of Hope and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in Washington, D.C., provides training for undergraduate and graduate nursing faculty, staff development educators and specialty nurses in pediatrics, oncology, critical care and geriatrics to teach essential information to nursing students and practicing nurses.
 Betty Farrell (Photo by Walter Urie) |
“End–of-life care is a critical component of a patient’s course of treatment that can impact not only the individual, but also his or her loved ones,” said Betty Ferrell, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Nursing Research and Education. “City of Hope is grateful to the Archstone Foundation for its support of this vital program.”
The grant will support the ELNEC-Critical Care and ELNEC-Geriatrics projects. The ELNECCritical Care project was developed to meet the special needs of critically ill patients and families facing the end of life across various critical care settings and to equip critical care nurses to provide excellent end-of-life and palliative care. The ELNEC-Geriatric course was adapted to fit the unique educational needs of those who work in geriatric settings such as long-term care, skilled nursing facilities and hospices. In addition, nurses who work with the elderly in clinics, acute care facilities and homecare settings and nursing faculty who teach geriatric curriculum will be invited to attend future ELNEC-Geriatrics courses.
More than 4,750 nurses representing all 50 states have received ELNEC training through national courses and are sharing their new expertise in educational and clinical settings. ELNEC trainers are hosting professional development seminars for practicing nurses, incorporating ELNEC content into nursing curricula and hosting regional training sessions to expand ELNEC’s reach into rural and underserved communities. In addition, ELNEC trainers have traveled to six of the seven continents, representing 53 countries, to provide education to nurses and other health care providers throughout the world. Last month, ELNEC trainers from around the country marked the 50th national ELNEC “train-the-trainer” course.
“Using a train-the-trainer model, the ELNEC project is focused on helping hospitals and long-term care settings improve care for those nearing the end of life. The ELNEC program also develops leadership skills so that nurses can champion system-change efforts in settings that provide care to frail elders. We are pleased to support the efforts of ELNEC in California,” said Joseph F. Prevratil, president and chief executive officer of the Archstone Foundation.
Ferrell has been in oncology nursing for 31 years and focuses on pain management, quality of life and palliative care. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and she has been published in more than 300 peerreviewed journals and texts. She is principal investigator of a study funded by the National Cancer Institute on pain and fatigue management.
The Archstone Foundation is a private grant-making organization whose mission is to contribute to the preparation of society on meeting the needs of an aging population. The foundation’s grant-making addresses the following issues: end of life, elder abuse and neglect and fall prevention, as well as responsive grant-making.
