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Death Is An Inevitable Part Of Life Essay

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Death is an inevitable part of life. “Just as we are all deserving of a joyous and harmonious life, we are also deserving of a peaceful, meaningful death” (Scannon, 2015 , para. 1). Many healthcare providers have not received training to properly care for patients nearing EOL processes and not all healthcare providers are comfortable caring for dying patients (Field & Cassell, 1997; Gillan, Jeong, &, van der Riet, 2014a; Gillan, van der Riet, & Jeong, 2014b; Paice, Ferrell, Coyle, Coyne, & Callaway, 2008). Inadequate training and poor comfort levels in caring for the dying pose a problem in providing adequate care at this delicate time in a person’s life (Field & Cassell, 1997). Knowledge of EOL processes and comfort levels with these processes can be enhanced with proper education, which should initially take place in undergraduate educational programs. Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, and Day (2010) identified national educational shortfalls in nursing education programs as one of the problems in the profession in nursing. In 2001, the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) was created by the AACN and staff from the City of Hope Medical Center to educate healthcare providers on the following eight competencies: introduction to palliative nursing; pain management; symptom management; communication; cultural considerations; ethics; loss, grief and bereavement; and care during final hours of life (Ferrell et al., 2016), yet, one shortfall in nursing education

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