SHOULD PALLIATIVE CARE NURSE PRACTITIONERS BE REQUIRED TO HAVE ACUTE CARE TRAINING?

摘要

The need for qualified palliative care nurse practitioners (NPs) is increasing. Access to palliative care in all settings is ideal, but this raises the question of whether acute or primary care training better prepares an NP for palliative care. Requiring NPs to return to school for a second degree is not ideal when there is already a shortage of qualified palliative tare NPs. In a specialty that extends across both acute and primary care, it is important for educators and clinicians who advise aspiring palliative care NPs to consider the implications of their choice of program, which will define their scope of practice and may affect their future employability.