For the past 25 years, I have been interested in the access and quality of care for persons at the end of life (EOL) and their families. As my passion for EOL care grew, I advanced my education to have more opportunities to influence patient outcomes at the EOL and bereavement outcomes for families. As an advanced practice nurse and Director of Clinical Services, I recognized the need for earlier access to hospice care and was asked to lead the development of a community based palliative care program. This program was developed at a time when the term palliative was not well understood, but through community education was successful at improving access to holistic care for patients facing advanced serious illness and their families.
Through my time at Kent State University College of Nursing (CON), I have led curriculum and research initiates and programs such as our PhD and Honors programs in the College of Nursing. My research addresses a neglected area focused on improving the quality of EOL experiences for patients and their families through understanding a variety of communication channels, including social media illness blogs and final conversations that catalyze family relationships. Additionally, I have examined methods to improve recruitment of caregivers at the EOL.
Developing the next generation of scientists and practitioners through collaborative EOL curriculum is critical especially for families and patients at the EOL. I served as Principal Investigator for the Catalyzing Relationships at the End of Life (CAREol) Project, funded in part by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation President’s Grant and the Henderson Reserve Fund. Undergraduate nursing students and medical students, as well as clinical faculty, participated in this study that investigated the impact of interdisciplinary education utilizing a family relationship and final conversations framework [important messages such as love, identity (self and relational), and spiritual/religious]. The CAREol program is embedded curriculum in the Kent State CON and Northeast Ohio Medical College (NEOMED). This curriculum contains both experiential and cognitive components that empowers participants to build professional resilience while facilitating important conversations between patients near the EOL and their families to bring comfort at the EOL.