Interprofessional primary palliative care: Do the AACN Essentials prepare nurses for collaborative practice?

Background: Palliative care specialists alone cannot meet the rising needs for palliative care. Primary palliative care, delivered interprofessionally by generalist health professionals, is essential to ensure equitable access. Educational competencies and clinical practice guidelines prepare these clinicians to integrate palliative care principles into practice.Purpose: The purpose of this project was to evaluate how the AACN Essentials prepares entry-level professional nursing students to function as members of the interdisciplinary primary palliative care team, as described in the National Consensus Project (NCP) for Quality Palliative Care Clinical Practice Guidelines.Method: A team of nurse educators utilized a crosswalk mapping process with the Essentials domains, the Competencies and Recommendations for Educating Undergraduate Nursing Students (CARES) statements, and the NCP Guidelines.Results: All eight of the NCP domains align with the Essentials. There were clear areas of overlap between the documents and unique areas of emphasis.Conclusion: This project identifies how educational competencies and clinical guidelines can guide competent palliative care practice. It also describes how nurses are prepared to collaborate in the delivery of palliative care.