Bon Secours Spiritual Center sits at the highest point of 331 acres of farm and woodland in south central Maryland. There, with 43 other nurses, I experienced one of the most memorable workshops I have ever attended: The Johns Hopkins Nursing Leadership on End-of-Life Nursing Academy. The Academy, created by the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing, was led by Cynthia Rushton, RN, DNSc, FAAN; Colleen Scanlon, RN, JD; and Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, FAAN. The Academy was the result of a nursing leadership consortium, "Designing an Agenda for the Nursing Profession on End-of-Life Care." Benjamin J. Broome, PhD, led the effort, which was funded by The Project on Death in America.
Twenty-two organizations representing 463,000 nurses responded to the invitation to attend the Academy. Elizabeth Pitorak and I represented the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. Once at Bon Secours, nurses from all backgrounds discovered their common interest in end-of-life care. Whether our specialty was ophthalmic care, emergency nursing, or developing the NCLEX exam, we were committed to providing quality end-of-life nursing care within our specialization.
As a representative of end-of-life care, I was eager to share the expertise of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), which proved to be in demand. The principles, philosophy and unique techniques known to end-of-life care are foreign to other specialties; just as foreign as specialty care in other fields is to us. We welcomed the inquiries, the requests for support and the opportunity to spread HPNA's mission of "promoting the highest professional standards of hospice and palliative nursing."
The week included a variety of programs, such as interactive discussions, role playing activities, and more. Participants grew individually and collectively. Leaders provided once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Elizabeth and I developed an action plan for HPNA and have since initiated many parts of the plan. A key element has been the development of a liaison team to be resource contacts to each academy participant. We have offered content review experts who can assist each organization in any way needed to assure their new products contain the language, principles and unique techniques of end-of-life nursing.
As the week passed, an unusual change occurred. For the first time in my professional career (nearly forty years!), I sensed a "oneness" like I never before have experienced within the nursing community. What allowed the walls to break down? What removed the territoriality? What happened to the competitiveness? Was it the penetration of heart and soul of end-of-life care that facilitates the disintegration of the mortar between those cement bricks causing our solidly built walls to fall? Was it the setting where "people can grow toward wholeness through enrichment of mind, body, and spirit" as the mission of Bon Secours defines? Was it the joy and commitment of caring nursing professionals who collectively value the end-of-life as precious and seek to meet the patients needs as a tribute to the sanctity of human life as that individual makes the transition from life as we know it to the unknown which they face? Whatever it was, it felt GREAT!! We felt GREAT!! Our leaders felt GREAT!
We were energized and committed to becoming end-of-life ambassadors as we gained enthusiasm and commitment to our worthy cause from our organizational leaders and members. We felt the need to become a single voice in end-of-life care. With the guidance of our leaders, we developed a commitment statement to take back to our respective organizations for their endorsement. It states:
Nursing's Commitment to Palliative Care
We, the undersigned, come together to express our commitment to the advancement of palliative care across the life span, and in all settings. We commit that our organization will seek opportunities to collaborate within the nursing profession and beyond in an effort to ensure the quality of care rendered to individuals, families, and communities. We have endorsed the Precepts of Palliative Care, developed by the Lat Acts Palliative Care Task Force (December, 1997), and we commit to participate in the translation and application of these Precepts for the area of nursing in which our membership is engaged.
The activities of the week had accomplished something that nursing has dreamed of accomplishing for decades. We were asked to write our personal observations of the week in terms of our accomplishments and our visions for what we as a group might accomplish in end-of-life care. In that exercise, our outcome was perfect, our dedication was evident, our future was before us - open and bright.
Judy Lentz is Executive Director, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. For more information, contact: Judy Lentz, at judyl@hpna.org.
<<< Previous Next >>> [ Go Up ]